X Fractions
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: A series of one-shots about the Four Guardians and their relationship with Neo Arcadia's citizens, Dr Weil, Copy X, and the Mother Elf. [AU-ish][Non-linear][R&R]
1. Activate Them!

Four lifeless Reploid bodies stood around the white room as if in a tribute. In the center hung an orb with blue and green etchings on it, and a female face with eyes closed that looked down upon the four Reploids in a still calm. At the doorway, the ruler of Neo Arcadia, the one who called himself X but was not the original, looked up at the orb above with an expressionless face.

"Here they are Mother Elf." Neo Arcadia's ruler declared tonelessly. "The Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia."

The orb above him started to change upon this introduction as the face on the orb started to slowly disappear and a pixelized form took place on the ground in the middle of the four lifeless Reploids. The pixels began to form into the figure of a young woman draped in a dress that materialized into the floor and highlighted her figure in a pleasing, gentle way. The woman softly turned her body to look at the four Reploids before clasping her hands over her mouth in surprise and awe.

"Oh!" she exclaimed happily. "Look at them Tekiya! I can't believe they're finished already!"

"Yes." he replied dimly. "They are without their armor for the time being, the Secondary School of Neo Arcadia have given their brightest the opportunity to create them. And Mother Elf, we agreed that you would call me X."

"Only when others are around." the Mother Elf playfully replied as she walked over to one of the Reploids to get a better look at it. Another sound of admiration as the Mother Elf's hologram looked over the Reploid with interest; this one was a male, his hair was short but feathery, and he seemed to be distinguished and associated with the color green. The Mother Elf's hologram cupped her hands under his chin and softly turned his head from side to side to get a better look of him.

"That is XF#1, Harpuia." Tekiya X claimed.

"Sage." the Mother Elf corrected. "I want him to be called Sage, because he'll be the wise one."

"I'm afraid that would be a bit hard to explain to the Reploid Regulation Committee." Tekiya X told her with a blink. The Mother Elf's hologram gave a gesture similar to a passing shrug that send an unnerved chill down Tekiya X's back before the hologram went on the inspect the next new Reploid in line. This Reploid was a bit taller than Sage Harpuia, had a military buzz-style hair cut, and built a bit stockier as well. Similar to how Sage Harpuia seemed to be coordinated with the color green, this Reploid was given the color red.

"Fighter." the Mother Elf said, placing a hand on his head in a soft, thoughtful way.

"XF#2, Fefnir." Tekiya X told her with a grim expression. Was she honestly going to do this for all of them?

The Mother Elf's hologram then floated to the next Reploid in the circle. Unlike the others, this one was given a red scarf despite his overall darker color scheme, while his hair was styled back in a short pompadour that did not detract from the idea of being mysterious. The Mother Elf's hologram put a hand on each of this Reploid's shoulders and gave him a long look in the eye. This one seemed to be a bit shorter than Sage Harpuia- this Reploid was almost exactly her height (the human the Mother Elf's hologram was based one had been rather short any way).

"That is XF#4, Hidden Phantom." Tekiya X informed the Mother Elf with a sense of pride. "The builders considered him to be their greatest achievement due to his stealth capabilities."

The Mother Elf nodded, although she did not particularly care. That was when the hologram looked at the last Reploid remaining, and gave a sharp inhale of surprise. Tekiya X dimly looked over as the Mother Elf's hologram took a hold of the last Reploid's shoulders, then pressed the hologram's forehead against the Reploid's.

"You didn't tell me one was going to be just a little girl." the hologram said to Tekiya X.

"She is not designed to be a little girl." he argued with an annoyed tone. "XF#3, Leviathan is designed at the same physical age state as the others.

"She almost looks like..." the Mother Elf's hologram started to say, but stopped and shook her head. "Who designed her?"

"The children of the Primary School of Neo Arcadia designed all the Guardians." Tekiya X told the Mother Elf with a yawn. "Although those children did not actually create the Guardians themselves, that was the job of this city's best and brightest, of course."

"But _who_ designed her?" the Mother Elf asked again, as she played a bit with Leviathan's boy-cut hair. "Surely you told the children it was a contest, yes?"

"A girl, if that's what you want to know." Tekiya X informed her shortly. "I have a foggy memory of such trivialities, perhaps it was Sky. Or Cial. Something to that effect, at least."

The Mother Elf's hologram looked thoughtful at this idea, then she quickly slipped her hands into Tekiya X's hand like an over excited child given the promise of something interesting.

"Activate them." she said to him. "I want to see them activated and moving around!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that until Dr Weil comes." Tekiya X told her as he moved away from her touch. Being touched by the Mother Elf's hologram was like having a small electrical current placed in the area she was touching you in. To the unfamiliar, it was an odd feeling, and Tekiya X did not like it at all.

"But you hold the key to activating them, don't you?" the Mother Elf asked with a curious tilt of her head and a small saddened face.

"Of course."

"So, you could activate them now if you wanted. Yes?"

"Yes, I could."

"Then why won't you do it now?"

Tekiya X looked at the Mother's Elf hologram with a cold, hard look that was certainly the love child of displeased and unamused.

"You will have a minute to talk to whichever one you please." Tekiya X then told her. "If you plan to talk to all four of them, let me know when you are ready to talk to the next in line. Do you understand?"

The Mother Elf's hologram nodded before dashing to the first Reploid she wanted to speak to first; Harpuia. Tekiya X rolled his eyes at the hologram's apparent eagerness and activated Harpuia for her. The Mother Elf watched as patiently as she could as Harpuia's eyes flickered to life and trained themselves onto her. The green Reploid jumped back a little in surprise.

"Hello ma'am." he said to her. "I am Sage Harpuia, one of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia. I was created from the legendary Mega Man X's DNA to help aid humans into regrowth and rebirth. If you do not mind me asking, who are you? My database does not recognize you as a citizen of Neo Arcadia, human or Reploid."

The Mother Elf's hologram smiled wide with pure enjoyment.

"I am the Mother Elf." she said to him, trying hard to refrain from holding his hand while he was active. "The body you see me in now is not my true form, it is only a way for me to reach out to those I see fit. You are special, so I will allow you to see me like this."

Unintentionally or not, Harpuia cheeks flushed a light pink color.

"You..." he started to say, but was unsure of how to finish, "I am honored that you feel comfortable enough to make your secondary form known to me. Thank you."

"No, thank you." the Mother Elf said to him. Harpuia gave the Mother Elf a funny look, but before he could say anything else, he went offline again. The Mother Elf's hologram shot Tekiya X a rather ugly look, in turn, the ruler of Neo Arcadia shrugged as if nothing was wrong. With a sigh, the Mother Elf then went to Fefnir next. She waited for him to be activated, and he too like Harpuia jumped back in surprise upon seeing her. However, unlike Harpuia, after being surprised, Fefnir attempted to take a swing at the Mother Elf's head. The force of the swing made him fall down, which made the Mother Elf laugh a little. Fefnir had not found it funny, and he quickly scrambled back up to throw more punches at an intangible hologram. At the rate he was going, it didn't take long for Fefnir to exhaust most of his energy. While he lay on the ground, muttering some rather colorful words, the Mother Elf's hologram bend down so that they were at eye level.

"Your armor will give you a greater endurance." she said to him calmly. "Before then, you need to improve your technique a little more."

Fefnir looked up at the Mother Elf with a rather angry expression although his eyes were signaling something more on surprise. He started to say something as well, but his eyes quickly went dim and lifeless as his body slowly started to stand back up into a neutral position. The Mother Elf looked at Tekiya X.

"It's sweet that you thought he could actually hurt me." she teased. Tekiya X averted his gaze away from the Mother Elf, but she knew the truth and it amused her. With a smile, the Mother Elf then went to Phantom. When he was activated, he did not jump away from her in surprise, instead Phantom looked her head to toe then gave a small bow of reverence. The Mother Elf's hologram gave a small smile and bowed back. When they came back up, the Mother Elf's hologram then moved closer to him to give him a small peck on the cheek. The gesture was the one that shocked him the most, as he touched the spot where she had kissed him. The life in his eyes went out at the same time as his body returned to a neutral position once again.

"Surprised by such a petty gesture..." Tekiya X muttered loud enough for the Mother Elf to hear. "A few bugs in the circuitry if you ask me..."

The Mother Elf shrugged this comment off and went to Leviathan at last. Like Harpuia and Fefnir before her, when Leviathan's eyes trained themselves on the Mother Elf's hologram, the Reploid was visibly surprised. The Mother Elf's hologram smiled back at Leviathan, ready for her to speak.

"Greetings," Leviathan said to the Mother Elf, "I am Fairy Leviathan, one of the four guardians of Neo Arcadia. I was created from the legendary Mega Man X's DNA to help humans rid pollution from their waterways."

"Hello Leviathan," the Mother Elf greeted as well, "I am the Mother Elf, overseer of all the Cyber Elves of the world. I was created to rid the world of an old virus that no longer possess a threat to us- before that, however, my will was given to me by a third party. I am the embodiment of a dying woman who assisted Dr Weil, and I was a woman that once loved a Reploid I feel you would know quite well."

Leviathan looked at the Mother Elf with curious eyes, but the Guardian bowed in reverence.

"It is an honor to meet you." Leviathan then said to Mother Elf.

"It will be an honor to work beside you." the Mother Elf assured Leviathan with a smile. Leviathan looked up at the Mother Elf uncertainly, but slowly started to smile back.

"Rest." the Mother Elf then instructed the female Guardian. "We will talk again soon."

Leviathan nodded before her eyes flickered dim and lifeless once again. Satisfied, the Mother Elf's hologram started to disappear as her face on the orb reappeared.

"What atrocious manners!" Tekiya X shouted at her. "Do I get no thanks for what I've done for you?"

Before the Mother Elf could reply, Dr Weil came in. All conversation about what Tekiya X had done for the Mother Elf was gone; Weil, on the other hand, had no idea of the influence the Mother Elf had already placed on the Four Guardians without his permission.


	2. Harpuia: Admiration

_I brace myself; Because I know it's gonna hurt._

 _But I'd like to think that at least things can't get any worse._

 _[…] I've never felt so alive, and so... dead._

 _-Florence and the Machine (Hurricane Drunk)_

 _. . ._

Sage Harpuia knew and understood that getting into the Mother Elf's antechamber was supposed to be a difficult task. But he didn't quite appreciate this until he was trying to smuggle in something that he wanted the Mother Elf to see and no one else. It took a lot longer than anticipated, but he was able to make it without his gift being ruined.

Once he was sure that the door to the chamber was shut, Harpuia got down on one knee close to the Mother Elf's main body that hung suspended in the air.

"Greetings Mother," Harpuia said to the orb above him, "I've come with a gift."

"Oh?" a voice with no body questioned with a certain air of amusement. With a nod, Harpuia presented his gift like an offering as he bowed his head in reverence. It took a few short moments before he felt a prickling, static-like feeling at his fingertips as the rose lifted up from the palm of his hands.

"A pink rose, a symbol of admiration. Surely your color spectrum is off a little- I believe you meant to pick a red rose instead?"

Harpuia snapped his head up at her as his eyes widened with fear and surprise. The Mother Elf's hologram looked at him softly and laughed at him.

"Don't tell me that you forgot that I am connected to every monitor in Neo Arcadia." she said to him teasingly. "The floral shop may not have any, but across the road in the window, the electronic store has seven."

Harpuia's expression did not change as he watched the Mother Elf's hologram gently smell the top of the rose.

"Of course," the Mother Elf continued, giving him a darting side glance, "You were being followed by admirers who thought the rose was for them. Correct? Perhaps you just wanted to get in and get out before one of them attacked you."

"I'm sorry." Harpuia told her, giving a bow.

"What for?" the Mother Elf questioned. "This room is so dreary, a nice rose of any color will brighten it up with its heart. Leviathan, too, brings me gifts. Most of her gifts do not have a long life here, I'm afraid..."

Deep within Harpuia, a certain feeling of a jealous justification flared inside of him. The siren gave gifts of the sea to a woodland elf, not the best of ideas if you were trying to impress them of course...

"She has her own meanings of course." the Mother Elf then said, snapping Harpuia out of his greedy thoughts. "Just as you came with the intent of trying to seduce me."

"M-Mother!" Harpuia declared in shock. "I... I would never!"

The Mother Elf's hologram gave the Guardian a rather slow blink. She then started to slowly walk over to him until there was just enough space between them so that the rose just barely touched either of them.

"Love is a human hormone." The Mother Elf whispered gently into Harpuia's ear. "And yet, you were the Guardian cursed with a Mega Man's affections toward my original will."

"Mother..." Harpuia said in a single breath as he tried to move closer to the Mother Elf's hologram. She kept moving away, just slightly, every time. A tease, on both of their parts, to coerce the other in a subconscious act neither could quite control.

"I only loved once." the Mother Elf then whispered. "And you are not Mega Man X. Your affections and your attraction means nothing to me. Who do you think you are talking to now?"

Harpuia said nothing as he attempted to steal a kiss from the hologram. Just one... Just one tiny little touch...

"Oh my sweet griffin, you are so young... and so foolish..." the Mother Elf's hologram soothed as it slowly started to fade away. "True love is unexpected. What you seek is lust, not love. My sweet... silly... deluded griffin..."

"No...!" Harpuia slowly gasped when he realized what the Mother Elf was going away. "C-come back! I didn't mean to hurt you, I only want..."

"You did not know the true Mega Man X." the Mother Elf said from above, although her voice sounded as if it were still next to Harpuia. "But when I look back on my past life's memories, I realize that _I_ didn't know the true Mega Man X either. By the time I knew him, Mega Man X was so alive and yet... he seemed so... dead. I couldn't understand it; why did he try so purposely to shut me out when I only wanted him to see me as his reincarnated lover? But slowly, I came to realize, that I wasn't his lover. I'm a shell. I had her consciousness, yes, but I was not the woman that Mega Man X once loved. And I believe that in knowing this, he saw himself as a shell as well- Reploids do not have souls like humans do and it made him more depressed and heartbroken the longer he spent time on this earth. You, Sage Harpuia, do not need to follow in his footsteps; to chase after a broken reflection of a shell. Mega Man X was never truly happy after her, and I think that is why he was so willing to sacrifice himself so that you four could be born. It was a sad fate, but it could have been an inevitable one regardless.

"What you also fail to realize is that Mega Men are... blind to romantic advances at first. They never make the first move; and this is why they are so sought after by admirers. You acknowledge these advances but you choose to ignore them, therefore you are not truly a Mega Man. But, there is more to a Mega Man than just their demisexuality, something I don't believe you quite understand yet. When you can come to me and tell me what makes a Mega Man just so, then perhaps I will tell you a secret that is hidden within the four Guardians."

Harpuia did not respond, nor did he seem to give off a response.

"Mother, it is time for me to leave." he eventually said.

"I understand." came the reply. "Remember what I told you, and perhaps our next conversation will be more lively."

Harpuia gave a little smirk before turning to leave. Next time their conversation was going to be more lively alright. Despite the fairly obvious, one question still stood tall;

What makes a Mega Man a Mega Man?


	3. Fefnir: Ceremony

"Don't get any ideas." Leviathan hissed to Fefnir before the foursome entered the Neo Arcadian armory.

"What ideas?" Fefnir snarled at his sister. "The one about throwing you back into the water, or the one where I grab whatever the hell I want and get out before anyone can stop me?"

Leviathan gave him a blank stare that was far from amused.

"What do you think?"

Fefnir gave Leviathan a sneer. "I like the idea of you drowning in six centimeters of water."

"I like the idea of you being buried under your own flame." Leviathan spat back. "But you know what I mean."

"Do I?" Fefnir grinned mischievously.

"Would you two knock it off?" Harpuia then hissed at them impatiently. "Every citizen in Neo Arcadia is going to watching this ceremony, which includes humans."

"Because humans are _so_ scary." Fefnir mumbled sarcastically with an eye roll. "Let's all fear them while we're supposed to protect them."

"Could you SHUT _UP_!" Harpuia thundered. "We only have one shot at this ceremony, we only have several seconds each for the humans of Neo Arcadia to decide that we are worthy of protecting them, we only have one chance to prove that we can protect and serve Neo Arcadia the same way Mega Man X did before us."

"As far as they now, that copy that calls himself Mega Man X is the original…" Leviathan mumbled bitterly.

"Exactly." Phantom spoke up. The youngest of the four was standing in a corner as he let the other three have at it. "As Copy X takes on a more powerful leadership role, we are placed into a protector role. A funny way of hiding the fact that he is not the original, but the humans wouldn't know a difference unless there is a more severe case of security failures within the city. We are Neo Arcadia's fail safes, but… I believe you understand as well as I do that that is not how Mother purposed us."

Being reminded of this, the Guardians grew quiet.

"Do you… do you think that she'll be watching us during the ceremony?" Leviathan whispered with a small shudder.

"Weil has Mother chained in a tree protected by Mega Man X's corpse." Fefnir sneered.

"But she's connected to every telecommunication system in Neo Arcadia." Harpuia reminded them. "She'll see us, one way or another."

"How about Weil can kiss my a-"

"What are you four just standing around for?" a voice grumbled at them from behind. The Guardians whipped around to see Dr Weil and Copy X coming over. The good doc was dressed formally in a white suit with a red tie, Copy X was fully dressed in his armor that both mimicked and mocked the original Mega Man X's full armor.

"The ceremony is going to begin in five minutes and you four aren't even properly dressed in your full armors yet." Copy X snarled at them. "What are you doing just standing around when you were given more productive orders?"

"We were discussing our thoughts about the ceremony sir." Harpuia told the fake coolly. "We must have lost track of the time- we'll go immediately to finish dressing if that is what you wish."

"Please." Copy X coldly affirmed. Without another word, the Guardians moved out to get ready. Behind them, Dr Weil simply snarled before motioning for Copy X to move forward as well.

. . .

There were more humans attending the ceremony than Reploids Fefnir quickly realized with an ounce of bitterness. Not that it truly surprised him- the humans of Neo Arcadia had less faith in their shelter than a structure that was built on shifting sand. They were extremely clueless too, if their ignorance on the existence of Copy X wasn't just some falsehood they all agreed to years ago.

"Welcome citizens of Neo Arcadia!" Copy X called out, finally starting the actual ceremony. "Today we are here to witness the crowning of Neo Arcadia's new guardians; the guardians that will guide you into a greater peace than what you have ever imagined!"

The many humans and few Reploids that were attending the ceremony clapped and cheered. Copy X gave a smile at the crowd that secretly illustrated that he adored the attention and their devotions. Fefnir rolled his eyes in response. In doing so, he happened to catch a sight of Dr Weil who was purposely off from most views and was even more purposely silent. Was it not Dr Weil that helped bring about this new world as well? Why wasn't the old coot leading the ceremony too?

"Neo Arcadia!" Copy X then shouted to the crowd, "It is with great honor today that I present to you the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia; XF#1 Sage Harpuia, XF#2 Fighting Fefnir, XF#3 Fairy Leviathan, and XF#4 Hidden Phantom!"

The citizens of Neo Arcadia once again went into an uproar of cheers and applause. The Four Guardians were a lot more humble than the faker, and demonstrated such by each giving a respective bow when their names were called. Leviathan and Harpuia even blushed a little; Leviathan's face was a bit darker though.

"The Four Guardians are to be stationed in different quadrants throughout Neo Arcaida," Copy X then continued after the crowd had calmed a bit. "Before they take up their new positions in these armies, they must first take up their new arms of combat."

"For Sage Harpuia, a weapon infused with the lifeline of a lost hero, I present the Sonic Blades- may you strike fear and justice into the enemies of the sky within the Rekku Army."

In saying this, Copy X handed Harpuia a pair of twin blades. Harpuia tested them out for a moment before making a crossing slash that impressed the crowd. Copy X then turned to Fefnir.

"For Fighting Fefnir, a weapon that would be deemed unstable in lesser hands, I present the twin busters Sodom and Gomorrah- may you shake new ground within the Jin'en Army."

Fefnir played with the weight of the mini cannons before pointing them to the sky and setting off a few testing shots. The kickback of the weapons was like a rush of euphoria that made Fefnir smile in an idiotic sort of way that he could not control. The fired shots hit each other in mid-air, releasing a fireworks sort of effect that made the crown gawk in fascination; to Fefnir though, this meant that there was much more power in these cannons that what would normally be allowed to him, and the thought made every ounce in his body tickle with an erotic glee.

"For Fairy Leviathan," Copy X continued, snapping Fefnir from his trance, "A weapon inspired by the long passed Robot Masters and their legacy, I present the Frost Javelin- may you terrorize and neutralize any threats below the water within the Meikai Army."

Leviathan started to twirl the javelin as if it were a baton, and she was in a marching band. She threw the weapon into the air, it twirled three times in the air, and she caught it before taking on a defensive pose. The crowd gave their response and once they were quiet again, Copy X continued on with the last of the Guardians.

"For Hidden Phantom, a weapon that can graze through enemies before they're even aware of their ill-fated blow, I present the Dark Cross- may you keep us safe in the darkest nights within the Zan-ei Army."

Like his other siblings, Phantom played with the weight of his new weapon for a moment before deciding to throw it with all his might at the audience. The audience let out a squeal of surprise as the Dark Cross flew above their heads and boomeranged back to Phantom on the stage. For a cruel, wistful moment, Fefnir had hoped that the weapon would just happen to graze across the top of someone's hair- making them now bald in one streak on their head and maybe a little hemorrhage just to freak some people out.

"Now, Neo Arcadia," Copy X once again called out, "As we draw a close to our ceremony, I would like to invite you all to eat and drink with us for nourishment in our bodies. For tonight, we shall sleep with security and comfort in knowing that Neo Arcadia's Four Guardians will watch over us all!"

The crowd cheered and hollered in agreement as the fake looked on upon them like a high king ruling of his demonized country. Fefnir didn't care of any of it, instead he looked down at his new toys, Sodom and Gomorrah. They were perfect at the moment; unbroken, unused, still with their true potentials hidden from him…

Neo Arcadia was going to sleep well tonight alright, because tomorrow they were going to regret giving the most destructive of the Four Guardians the most powerful weapons the city had to offer.

It was going to be glorious.


	4. Leviathan: Drowned

It truly was a shame that humans couldn't experience under the water as she could. In their compact submarines they could go far down into the depths but they could never look up, with their SCUBA gear they could skim the water but they were not graceful in their approach. Some humans just couldn't swim, which was boring any way.

That was a funny though; how many humans had she saved from the waters that surrounded Neo Arcadia before they drowned?

Under the water was peaceful though- too bad the humans had to die before seeing the beauty she saw in it. Then again; she didn't have to share either.

Interrupting her idle thoughts, a sickening splash from above made Leviathan turn her head to look up at the water's surface. For a few moments, the female Guardian couldn't distinguish the figure as it slowly drifted to the ocean floor as if it were a stone. As it came closer, she realized that it was a human figure and she immediately took action. Leviathan made sure she was close enough to the human so she could take him by the waist and help him back up to the surface.

When the human was reintroduced to the harsh, blowing sea air he coughed up some water- a sign to her that he was going to be alright for now. But Leviathan soon realized something; where did this human come from if land wasn't in sight and no boats had been in the water at the time? Curious, the female Guardian struggled to turn the human around so she could get a better look at him and determine who he was.

The human was a boy around the age of ten. His light red hair was bowl cut with the fringe of his bangs being a bit longer on the sides. His skin was pale- almost completely white, but then again, if one almost drowns, whose skin isn't going to be that pale? His face, although still boyish, contained the promise of becoming more rectangular and authoritative. She had never been able to see him in person before, but she knew exactly who it was.

The boy was Albert Weil, Dr Weil's estranged son with his long deceased wife Rivina. As with most of the members of their family, young Albert was a genius. Less than a year ago, Albert was given the Light Award in robotics and mathematics- as irony would have it through, Albert hated Reploids. He was once noted in saying that he wanted to learn advanced robotics so he could reprogram a Reploid on the street to be a fancy lamppost with a single press of a remote. A cold child perhaps, but perhaps a bit misunderstood.

Albert coughed up some more sea water as he started to open his eyes. When he saw that Leviathan was keeping his head above seawater, the child instantly started to squirm out of her grasp.

"That stupid support unit dropped me!" Albert hollered as he thrashed about. "Let go of me, I need to get that thing back!"

"What su- Albert knock it off! You can't swim!"

"I'd rather drown than be carried by you back to the shore."

In a swift movement that was nearly unseen to the human eye, Leviathan slapped Albert. The boy looked at her with a mix of hatred, fear, and confusion.

"Albert Baryl Weil," the female Guardian then said in a tone that was more dark than motherly, "Land is yards away, there's not a boat in sight, and you're giving some nonsense about a support unit. You have five minutes to explain to me what the hell you're doing out here alone or I'll take you to your father to see what he can do to you."

"He can't do anything to me…" Albert mumbled under his breath. "That stupid jerk doesn't give a rat's ass about me."

"I'll take you to see the Mother Elf then." Leviathan then told him. "If the idea seems more punishing to you."

It did, for a multitude of reasons, and the mere thought of meeting the entity made Albert grimace.

"Can we go to shore first? In another minute I'm going to contract hypothermia."

"Of course." Leviathan agreed. "Are you going to kick me again while I guide you?"

A tricky little smile etched across Albert's face. "I make no promises," he informed her.

Well… at least he was honest.

. . .

"Now," Leviathan tried again after Albert was on shore and dried off, "Would you kindly inform me why you were in the middle of the ocean?"

"I told you," Albert insisted impatiently, "My support unit dropped me while I was testing it."

"What support unit?" Leviathan questioned.

"Its identification was 6OS-Pp3.1 (sixth operating system, progression point three point one) and like I told you earlier (and what I have to keep repeating, unfortunately), it's a support unit."

"You and I both know that you don't need or require a support unit." Leviathan reminded him sternly. "Why did you have one in your possession to begin with?"

"I built it." Albert told her as if the answer were as simple as that. The female Guardian did not step down, instead she looked at him from above- proving her authority over him and silently reminding Albert of the Mother Elf. With little else to do, and knowing that Leviathan wasn't going to let him go any time soon, the boy continued;

"I built the support unit to study the idea of a human or robotic soul to be biologically merged with an external body."

"Cyber-elves you mean? I hate to break it to you, but they already exist and are well known by now."

"No." Albert disagreed with a shake of his head. "Livemetal; it's a technology worse than those hellish cyber-elves."

"What does it do?" Leviathan asked, unsure of whether she should take him seriously or not. Albert face detailed one completely devoid of humor, not that it helped the Guardian decided whether he was telling the truth or not.

"I don't know." Albert told her truthfully. "But when I find out, I'll reset this world so there were never any Reploids! I'd change this world so no one has to die over a Reploid and uploaded into a computer somewhere that could be easily corrupted! I… I would rather _die_ than watch my father pine over a dead woman that he wanted to replace my mom!"

"You… don't mean that. Do you?" Leviathan quietly asked. Young Albert's face grew livid and he got close enough to Leviathan that she could almost feel the extreme heat coming from his body as his blood boiled.

"I sure as fuck do." He hissed to her with a dangerous certainty. With this in mind, Albert gave Leviathan a cold stare as he started to walk away and left her there.

If she knew what he was going to be capable of in another fifty years, Leviathan would have let Albert drown.


	5. Phantom: Children

_And my love is no good against the fortress that it made of you;_

 _Blood is running deep, sorrow that you keep…_

 _-Florence and the Machine (Queen of Peace)_

. . .

Each of the Four Guardians had their own way of making their visits last with the Mother Elf. There would be conversations, and there would be demonstrations. Sometimes there was teasing, but sometimes there was pure gratitude of a duty well done. When Hidden Phantom came to see the Mother Elf, none of this happened.

When Phantom came to see the Mother Elf silence was the only thing that either could greet without the other departing without notice. Perhaps the Mother Elf would conjure a chess board between them to keep some parts of the time spent going with some degree of productiveness. Other times Phantom would sit below the Mother Elf's shell and meditated- on even rarer occasions the Mother Elf would bring forth her hologram form to sit across from him. In this state they only meditated, and in the still quiet you could almost hear their thoughts as they floated through the air, carrying on a less than average conversation that informed each other about the opposite's day.

This was what they were doing one day when a very angry Copy X came into the Mother Elf's chamber. The fake looked at the Guardian, then looked at the Mother Elf's hologram and nearly burst a circuit.

"What is he doing here?" Copy X demanded to the Mother Elf although he was facing Phantom, "And why are you like that?"

The Mother Elf's hologram simply blinked at the fake, then took her time to stand up.

"I am spending time with one of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia." She said to him in a calm tone. "What are you doing here? And why are you so livid? Certainly it is nothing that would require my tulpa to leave, could it?"

Copy X only fumed. Phantom started to get up, but the Mother Elf motioned for him to stay.

"What is the matter?" the hologram asked again. "Something happened, obviously, and surely you could vent your anger toward one who will not repeat it to others."

Copy X looked at Phantom as the Guardian stood up to give a bow of silence. It didn't make the fake any happier, but he knew full well that when he had Hidden Phantom's word, the Guardian would rather die than break the promise. With an irritated grunt and an unnerving eye roll, Copy X informed the Mother Elf and Hidden Phantom of the current events.

"That bastard Weil is freaking pissed."

For a moment, Phantom and the Mother Elf's hologram only looked at him.

"Tekiya darling, how is that different from any other day?" the Mother Elf inquired, a soft and teasing smile forming on her lips.

"He's pissed at you." The fake spat. The surprised look on the hologram and on Phantom were equal. Copy X took this as a sign to continue. "The original form of you - _her_ \- apparently has children."

"No, she did not." The Mother Elf told him slowly as she shook her head. "She never…"

"Apparently someone engineered some for her." Copy X told her darkly.

"That couldn't be possible," Phantom said in place of the Mother Elf who had gone speechless. "She was human, and her only partner to the time of her death was a-"

"I know the details." Copy X darkly interrupted. "What I know from that old necrophiliac is what I'm telling you now. Someone somehow spliced the DNA of _her_ and Him and have created two baby Cyber Elves that now roam free and are as deadly as what Mother can be when she so desires. Maybe even more so."

"Cyber Elves do not have a 'baby' or 'infant' form." Phantom softly told the fake in a controlled tone. "How could one create such a state when it does not exist?"

"Hell if I know." Copy X snapped. "The only other info we gathered about these 'babies' is that whoever created them also has a physical shell for them to later develop into. This is why Weil is in a tizzy; the baby Cyber Elves are souls for a creation that is both human and Reploid. Twin freaks of nature that sever all lines between what it means to be human and what it takes to be Reploid."

"Who…" the Mother Elf softly started to wonder, her hologram form beginning to fade in and out of existence, "Who would create such creatures…?"

"Mother…" Phantom said to her in a calming tone, but the Mother Elf was not listening- the lights in her chamber started to glow bright, then dimmed for a moment, then glow even brighter with a pulsation similar to an erratic heartbeat.

"They all knew that she couldn't…" the Mother Elf then started to babble. "They knew she didn't want… She understood they would remake Him, but _she_ … she said…"

"Mother." Copy X sternly warned, noticing along with Hidden Phantom that the Mother Elf was giving off much more energy than normal. If she exerted too much power, Neo Arcadia would see severe power outages from blown fuses and the like; and when Neo Arcadia blows a fuse, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"No children… no spawn…" the Mother Elf continued, her hologram form becoming even more unstable and the lights humming even brighter, "No clones… no hybrids… no creatures… no… no…!"

"Mother!" Copy X and Phantom called at the same time. The mother of all Cyber Elves still did not comprehend them as the condition she seemed to be in only got worse. Finally, Phantom went forward toward the hologram in its distressed state and lingered his hand close enough to her shoulder so that it seemed as if he were giving her a comforting touch.

"Aero…" Phantom whispered in a voice that belonged to a hero long passed, "Aero, I want you to look at me."

The hologram shook as it looked at Phantom. The hologram could not cry, but Phantom could sense the same level of desperation and hopelessness within.

"X…" the hologram said to him in a tiny voice, a voice that was like the Mother Elf's but quite distinct from it as well, "X… I… I'm scared."

Copy X, who had remained where he stood, twitched in anger that the Mother Elf saw Phantom as the original Mega Man X in her state, but the fake kept his counsel for now.

"I understand." Phantom soothed as he used a hand to carefully stroke the top of the hologram's head. "And I… I will admit that I am too. But remember, you are their Mother, what do you want of them?"

"I… want…" the hologram whispered as her form started to become stable once again. "I want to… I want to see them. I want them to be here, with me."

Phantom took a look at Copy X, who saw an order when it was given to him and immediately headed out to give the news to other interested parties. Phantom looked back at the Mother Elf's hologram, which was now slowly fading as the program returned to her shell.

"It is not what she wanted…" the Mother Elf mumbled as her hologram faded. "But… thy will be done…"

"My dear tulpa, you may leave if you wish." The Mother Elf then said to the Guardian in an exhausted tone that indicated her need to rest.

But Hidden Phantom simply looked up at the Mother Elf's shell and sat down underneath of it. From there, he took a deep breath in and started to meditate.


	6. Harpuia and Phantom: Video

Harpuia was choosing to believe that Hidden Phantom was late. It was either that, or Harpuia could tell himself that he was actually early which was more possible than any other excuse he could give. Under the circumstances, perhaps the Guardian was a bit more excited than what he should have been.

Communication between the Four Guardians was practically a no brainer for many people, but it was general 'this area is protected' or 'minor outbreak in Sector V'. It was rare when one of them had news for the other that must be done in a more secure manner- even more rare was when one was readily able to give information that could further fuel an unrequited infatuation.

"I can see that you didn't waste any time coming." a calm voice said from the shadows. Harpuia turned around, not surprised to see his brother standing there. The green Guardian opened his mouth to greet his brother, but did not have the opportunity when the other spoke first;

"I hope you prepared for travel Harpuia."

"Just where are we going, Phantom?" Harpuia asked, although he was agreeing that he was ready to go. Hidden Phantom did not give any readable expression as he started to walk to both of them out of the area.

"Out of Neo Arcadia." came the short answer. Harpuia raised an eyebrow at the idea, but quickly followed behind his brother with haste. Whatever Phantom had found, it must have been pretty special if they had to do it out of the city...

. . .

The youngest of the four Guardians led his brother to an old, broken down lookout shelter out in the desert that surrounded the otherwise lush paradise of Neo Arcadia. Getting a connection to the city out this way was almost difficult- not just because the signal couldn't reach that far, but the dust in the air made it hard to hone in on a broadcasting signal. This was where Phantom decided to look them in, and where he pulled out an odd looking contraption that belonged with the technology advances from a century ago.

"Why do you have that?" Harpuia inquired, not meaning to sound accusatory, "That's ancient tech. It can't do any good to anyone anymore."

"It's not that old." Phantom uttered, almost sounding hurt- perhaps more for his sibling's lack of faith and misunderstanding than from actual disappointment. "It was being used before Mother was activated."

"How is that significant?" Harpuia then asked. Phantom simply stared at Harpuia, thinking of some other way that he could drop a hint as he extracted the disk from inside the video recorder. Harpuia, in turn, watched as Hidden Phantom placed the disk into a DVD player that was hooked up to an old analog television before turning on the television. Both of the Guardians knew that if the Mother Elf could connect to the technology out this far from Neo Arcadia, she wouldn't have been able to; any piece of technology that was created before the Mother Elf's birth or not originating from Neo Arcadia would go blind underneath the Mother Elf's all seeing eye.

"Have you... ever have dreams about her?" Phantom quietly asked as he got the video ready.

"Who? Mother?" Harpuia asked, randomly guessing. But his brother shook his head.

"Not Mother, but... but _her_. Have you ever had dreams about _her_ before?"

It took the green Guardian a moment to realize what his brother was asking, but when he did, his face grew dim and perhaps a bit pale. Of course he had dreams about her. Which one of the Guardians didn't have dreams about that woman at some point? They couldn't see her well in their dreams, but they all knew who she was; she was the Mother Elf before she was even considered as such, she was a ghost that haunted their waking consciousness without any direct warning, in some ways, she was their mother in more sense than what the Mother Elf herself was. And perhaps, just thinking about that made the idea even scarier for the Guardians. The Mother Elf, before she was so, had been a human- a human that fell in love with...

"What I want to show you can't be told to anyone else- not the lycan, not the siren, and certainly not the fake, Weil, or Mother." Phantom then told Harpuia in a cold, unfeeling tone. "Do you understand?"

"Of course." Harpuia agreed, his face also devoid of emotion. Hidden Phantom gave a nod as he started the video. The two then stood back as the video started to play...

"What are you doing with that thing?" a voice that sounded a lot like the Mother Elf's voice asked, there wasn't an actual video feed at the moment so all the viewer was greeted to was a black screen.

"Axl found it earlier today." another voice said, it was the voice that almost copied the one that the fake had, except this was the original- Harpuia had a gut feeling that it was, and the idea gave him a horrible knot in his stomach. "He was taking videos of Zero to prank him or something. I saved it from being scrapped, which is what Zero wanted it to be after finding out what Axl was doing."

"I bet he wanted to scrap Axl too."

"Yeah... had to bail him out of that too."

Then gave a laugh, a laugh that the Mother Elf could have been capable of when she was feeling a bit euphoric- but there was a difference in this laugh, it was almost sad or tired. But the joy was there, both Harpuia and Phantom could feel it.

"Are you recording this now?" the first voice asked. There was a sound of a nod with an affirmative little mumble. The broken laughter of a dying woman rang out again as she went on to say, "Do you realize that the lens cap is still on?"

"Ohuh?" was the reply before the lens cap came off. At the same moment, the two Guardians watching the video took a breath in as the viewer was suddenly introduced to a young woman in her late 20s with short red hair with brown eyes that have seen better days. She was laying on a cozy bed dressed in her pajamas- she looked ridiculously tired although the window in the background indicated that it was a little past noon. The woman looked so much like the Mother Elf's hologram form that it was almost dizzying to think that they could have been the same person at some point.

"Oh wow, there's a video preview option on this thing too... Who knew?"

The woman laughed again, her smile showing this time around which seemed to make her laughter even more enjoyable.

"Can I see it for a moment?" she then asked.

"Sure." came the reply as the camera's view shook as the camera itself was given to a new user. When the camera adjusted to a figure again, Harpuia and Hidden Phantom were given a look of the original Mega Man X decked out in his recognizable armor, spare for his helmet, which revealed his light brown hair stylized in a floofy 1950s flip. He too looked tired, but it was for a different reason; where the young woman looked exhausted from some kind of illness, Mega Man X looked tired from stress. The now departed Reploid looked on at the camera with a smile that seemed far more broken than the what the young woman's was- it was a feeling you could sense just by looking at him.

"I like the handle on this thing." the woman declared. "It's not bad for a moderately sized camera, not bad at all."

"Really?" X asked curiously as the camera view drifted down the bed sheet to give the viewer a look at the woman's feet for a few moments before snapping back to look at X.

"Alright, now get naked!" the woman told him. The look on X's face shifted through five different emotions in under a millisecond. His cheeks flushed a deep red color as his face finally settled on an expression that was confused but almost willing to do the deed. An emotion, Harpuia realized, that he would have shown if the Mother Elf had requested the same of him. Hidden Phantom knew he would too, but kept his counsel for the time being.

"I-I don't think that... that it would be a, a uh, good idea Seph." Mega Man X eventually stammered. "I... I, um, promised A-Axl that I would... that I would, urm... give it back. He might want to see... you know... us having..."

A little teasing giggle came from the other end of the camera. "I was only joking." the woman then insisted. "Just a little..."

"Don't joke like that Sephira..." X then said as he carefully tried to reach for the camera. "You almost made me believe that..."

"Believe what?"

"You made me believe that-" X started to say before the video cut off. The video on the television screen went black before Harpuia turned to look at Hidden Phantom, who stood without saying a word.

"It really makes me wonder," Harpuia then decided to say, "It makes you wonder what happened between the death of her and the creation of the copy that removed that part of their relationship away. They are clones of the other, for the most part, wouldn't you think?"

For several moments, Hidden Phantom didn't say a word as carefully took the DVD out of the player and back into the camera it came from. Harpuia simply observed as the Shadow Guardian then held the camera as if it were the most precious thing on earth and looked at it with a kind of sadness that came with remorse or regret.

"I can't imagine it." Hidden Phantom then said, making Harpuia question he was really answering him or simply speaking out loud. "It really is a mystery..."


	7. Leviathan and Fefnir: Taunt

Perhaps being late for meeting a fellow Guardian of Neo Arcadia was a family trait...

Leviathan had specifically told Fefnir to meet her at high noon for a reason. Yet, here she was, standing out of the water far longer than high noon. She hated this. She hated him too- but that wasn't much different from any other day.

The female Guardian folded her arms as she began to think about the place she wanted to be the most. Not here, obviously. Back in the water would have been rather nice. Yes, yes the water would do just nicely. Perhaps she could go looking for a secret passageway somewhere, or find a treasure left behind from some ship that sank eons ago. No- she didn't like that idea, the last time she did that she found something abandoned in a dark place and it didn't go over very well for her. Worse of all, she had gone so far down into the ocean around Neo Arcadia that she almost couldn't send a signal for one of her brothers to come help her. No; fantasizing about exploring wasn't what she should think about right now, something else.

Mother, maybe? No… when she thought about Mother for too long, she started to feel an emotion she couldn't describe. And there was no way that she was going to think about the fake or Weil, both of them could easily ruin her mood quicker than a late Fefnir.

Oh for the love of _light_ , where _was_ he?!

Leviathan started to shift her balance from side to side now, getting exceedingly impatient and growing even more upset, as her mind drifted over to Albert, Dr Weil's genius son with a fierce hatred of Reploids. Albert's hatred of Reploids extended to the Cyber Elves too (perhaps with an even greater passion), and he actively sought out ways to bring down such AI needed to give each one their personality. His anger and frustration after a broken home life was what made him a genius, and the very idea made the female Guardian pity the child. Some of the sympathy must have been mutual in one way or another; Leviathan was the only Guardian (and by extension, Reploid) that Albert trusted.

A shot of some buster from behind her fired, just barely missing Leviathan by a centimeter. Without a second's hesitation, the female Guardian whipped around and drew her javelin in preparation to fight back. She took ease (or, she put her weapon down, at least) when she saw that it had been Fefnir, here at last and laughing at her as if attempting to strike her down while unaware had been a joke.

"You should see your face!" Fefnir sneered. "Wanted to hear you scream a bit though- sirens have very funny screeches you know."

"Shut it." Leviathan snapped at him, curtly and with authority. "Where have you been? We agreed to meet at high noon."

"It's still noon, isn't it? Can't be too late if it's still noon, right?"

Leviathan did not budge in inch, knowing that in doing so could lead her to rip that smug look off of Fefnir's face in a heartbeat. He was still cackling at her as if nothing were wrong. Where Leviathan openly disliked her brother and showed it at any opportunity, Fefnir was a bit more crafty about it. No gesture he made to anger his sister was too small or too grand to be noticed by any party present. Name calling, 'missing' her with an 'accidental' blast from his twin busters, keeping her out of the water with full knowledge that she dried up quickly, making fun of the way she fawned over Mother…

"Wow siren, look at the time." Fefnir then proclaimed, "We're going to be late! What'chu just standing around for? Let's get going or someone's going to be very mad with us."

Seeing Leviathan's livid look made Fefnir feel great about his life choices.

. . .

"Oh god..." Leviathan purred as her feet touched water again after so long. Her face crept into a wide smile that was as content as it was in pure bliss. Fefnir watched her as she did this, taking in a certain joy with the same degree of emotion that also made him feel a bit disgusted. Humans had a word for this, and it lingered in Fefnir's mind as he stared at his sister with her feet in the cool waters she almost always lost herself in.

"Are you gonna dive in sometime today or are you going to keep arousing yourself?" Fefnir inquired in a greedy little tone as he gave her a hearty slap on her shoulder, in turn almost making her lose her balance. Leviathan looked at Fefnir as if he had surprised her and had caught her doing something that she wasn't supposed to before her face molded into an expression that decided to be peeved at him again.

"After you." Leviathan gestured. Fefnir responded by taking a step forward into the water, stomping as if the water had done him wrong at some point.

"Wuss." Leviathan uttered after watching him take several stomps into the water. She rolled her eyes at him before getting further into the water than what he had accomplished so far, then made a clean dive to fully submerge herself. Fefnir raised an eyebrow at her display before he let a smirk creep into the corners of his lips.

"Show off." he argued to himself before getting deeper into the water to completely submerge underwater as well.

Fefnir took little care of the sea life around him as he stomped against the seabed to get remotely close to where Leviathan had swam off to. According to the internal location service each Guardian had placed in them, she was close… and getting further away at the same time. At this rate, she was going to get to the excavation point before he would- not that he particularly cared. Neo Arcadia could do without another pipe system to make the city cleaner for a bit longer- gee, if that city were any cleaner it could glitter and gleam bright enough to give the Emerald City a run for its money.

"Could you hurry up?" Leviathan snapped at him, swimming so close to him that their noses barely touched. For a moment, Fefnir found himself impressed that she could move that fast, but then he remembered that she neglected to realize that not everyone had that advange.

"One day," Fefnir told her, a sneer plastered to his face with amusement, "I'll have a sister who doesn't decide to take 'fire and ice are opposites' to heart. Maybe if I take up the case to Mother, she could arrange something of the like- have a sister that actually looks like Him, wouldn't that be neat?"

"Says the Guardian that has, like, five spikes coming out from his armor with shoulder blades that look nothing like His original armor."

Fefnir let out a nastily bemused snort. "Our next brother is going to be just as rash as I am and just as stubborn as the griffin. Your only defense is to have a sister just as cunning at the tulpa and pray she has more love toward her brother than you seem to."

"We have something to do, are you going to keep fantasizing about stuff that's never going to happen?"

Fefnir gave Leviathan a greedy little half smile. "Anything can happen." he taunted before the two went on to complete their mission.


	8. Phantom: Pocket Watch

**Mother, make me; Make me a big, tall tree so I can shake my leaves and let it blow through me.**

. . .

Hidden Phantom bowed before the Mother Elf as she held chained and suspended near the top of her antechamber.

"Mother, I come with a request." Hidden Phantom said to the seemingly lifeless orb above him.

"Oh?" came the surprised voice although the face on the Mother Elf's orb form remained unchanged. "What is wrong my little tulpa?"

Phantom took this as a sign to stand up before continuing. "Dr Weil has requested my presence to a rather large gathering this evening that he was invited to. He wanted me, of all Reploids, to act as his guard against those who might try to do him harm."

"Isn't that an honor?"

"Mother..." Hidden Phantom shamefully whispered under his breath. "Mother, I can not accept the position knowing what he has done to you and… and _her_."

"And what has he done? She was resurrected, I stopped a deadly virus."

"We know full well that she was not truly resurrected." Phantom suddenly snapped, his voice raising in a shock induced anger. "And what good was it to stop a virus that has proven itself to be more of a cult movement than a disease? Mother, whether you are aware of it or not, Dr Weil has stripped you of your humanity as Aero Sephira and has confined you to a shell that lies chained inside a chamber regulated by the true Mega Man X's corpse! I may give allegiance to Tekiya in memory of Mega Man X, but I will _NOT_ bow to Barlet Weil!"

The Mother Elf did not directly respond to this statement, although the air around them had become still and almost shocked. Slowly, the face on the Mother Elf's mainframe started to disappear as an arrangement of pixels started to form into the figure of a young woman in front of Phantom. The Guardian looked at the hologram with a still look, refusing to move or even blink, fearing that he was going to be in trouble. With her hologram to communicate with, the Mother Elf gave Phantom an expression that crossed between worried and concerned. He hated to see that look on her because it implied that he was weak- unable to face his own fears and hatred to do something that would last for nothing more than a few hours at the least.

Without saying a word, Phantom now believed that the Mother Elf found him useless.

The Mother Elf was also silent as her hologram appear to lull over some information on how to help, or to deem him unhelpful.

"My dear tulpa, could you… get me something?" the Mother Elf then requested softly. "Against the southern wall, there is a collection of various odds and ends your siblings give to me. There happens to be pocket watch, an older one with cogs and gears, could you bring it to me?"

Hidden Phantom nodded and did as he was told, easily distinguishing the white gold plated watch (the actual clock face hidden behind a simple cover) and bringing it back over to the Mother Elf's holographic form.

"It still ticks, doesn't it?" the Mother Elf entertained, as her hologram observed over Phantom's shoulder curiously at the watch. "It still ticks even though it doesn't want to, even though it has seen some things it didn't want to; and maybe, just maybe, it might have some fears about the time when it fails to tick and no one is around to fix it. What this watch might not know is that someone is already out there, getting ready for the day when this watch comes through to the repair shop. It might seem a bit morbid now, but they are ready for whatever problems this watch might have faced."

"Are you comparing me to a watch, Mother?"

"I'd like to imagine that you are much more smarter than the watch- but yes, I suppose the likeness is still there if you look hard enough."

Under his helmet, Hidden Phantom's face lightly flushed a lovely pink color that the Mother Elf pretended not to notice.

"Take it with you." she then insisted. "I think you could make more use with it than what I could."

The Guardian blinked before looking down at the still ticking pocket watch, then looked back up at the Mother Elf's hologram.

"Mother, wasn't this the watch that I gave you?"

The Mother Elf did not directly answer, but her hologram gave a wide smile and an innocent chuckle that did not ease Phantom's guess.

. . .

Hidden Phantom was expected to greet Dr Weil when his expensive transportation arrived at the formal meeting. The meeting itself was being held at the Neo Arcadian art gallery

He ended up late, for whatever reason, and had brought his son with him.

"There's been a change of plans." Dr Weil muttered to Hidden Phantom as the trio walked together into the art gallery. "You will not be watching over me, you will be watching over Albert instead. If anything happens to him, you can expect your parts to be scrapped. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, Dr Weil." Phantom agreed. The Guardian then gave a quick glance to Albert, who walked with his head held high like he was a rich senior who thought the world was littler than him. With a quick evaluation, the poor tulpa decided that being in charge of keeping young Albert safe was going to be a lot harder than keeping Weil safe.

Here's hoping the child was in a fairly civil mood this evening…

After making sure Weil was in union with the party he was supposed to meet up with, Albert and Phantom wandered through the art gallery looking for something to critique. Of course, Albert led the Guardian to the exhibits for the 'colorful' depictions of Reploids, Mechaniloids, and the like. There wasn't a single one that depicted the world of the thinking robotic creation to be happy or living their lives as a human. Several pictures detailed very high levels of individual circuitry that would have been taboo if having come from the guts of a human.

Albert stopped at a photograph that was taken inside a Pantheon production line. The simplified Reploids stood in neat lines- like soldiers taking a stance at the battlefield, ready to strike when the one in charge gives them the order. The picture had already proven to be authoritative, but on closer inspection when you noticed how the Pantheon's bodies simply sagged as a sign of them having yet to be activated, the scene became eerie. Humans would have likely seen nothing wrong with it, but Phantom considered the possibility that these Pantheons knew that they were going to die in battle some day and already mourning their demise.

"Tin soldiers." Albert remarked tonelessly. Phantom looked down on the child, noting that he looked deep in thought with his hands held behind his back and an expressionless face. The Guardian let the child continue his line of thought with utmost interest. "Father refers to the Pantheon drones as tin soldiers, particularly when they botch something up. He claims that they are nothing more than nerfed Reploids; unable to feel, unable to think, unable to hold sentimental value to trivial creations of nature."

In saying this, Albert make a swift moment toward Phantom that he almost didn't catch- and before the Guardian could stop the child, Albert had swiped the pocket watch off of Phantom's armor. The child held the watch in Phantom's face as if it were proof of a slanderous behavior that should have had him killed.

"You are a tin soldier." Albert then claimed, his voice so dark in tone that no child should have been able to produce it. "You are the one that all the scientists in Neo Arcadia brag about. You were to be unfeeling, unable to think, unable to hold value to human creations. Why do you have this?"

"Because I was reminded of its value." Hidden Phantom calmly told the child, picking his words carefully. "A clock still ticks even when it doesn't want to. It keeps time when others fail to show up. A clock does not hold anger toward others who have thrown it out of fury. I am like this pocket watch in particular; I have seen things I did not want to, I have heard information that could hurt others, and I have fears of one day being useless to the ones I care of the most. But here I am, still ticking- still watching over a child in need of therapy and desire to be noticed by his father, competing with the ghost of a human Weil decided to love instead of keeping it with his dead wife."

The scowl on Albert's face was venomous, but it kept the child from talking for the rest of the time they waited to Weil. Hidden Phantom liked this side of Albert better -even if certain glares could be read as wishes of one dying- and so he kept him that way until they departed for the night.

. . .

 **This chapter was inspired in part by deviantArt user** ** _terral_** **'s photograph called '** ** _Tin Soldiers_** **', for which the photograph Hidden Phantom and Albert looked at was inspired by. This chapter was also inspired by the song '** ** _Mother_** **' as sung by** ** _Florence + the Machine_** **from their album** ** _How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful_** **, to which the lyrics that inspired are featured at the start of the chapter.**


	9. Fefnir: Alarmed

**Mother, make me: Make me a big gray cloud so I can rain on you all the things I can't out loud.**

. . .

Benched.

Fefnir was no sports enthusiast, but he knew full and damn well what it meant.

And it was exactly what that goody two-shoes Harpy was doing to him right now.

"It wouldn't be safe for you to embark on this mission." Harpuia told him.

"But I'm perfect for this mission!" Fefnir barked. "We get to shoot things down, blow stuff up! If we get lucky there might even be sparks when a fuse blows and electricity is just _flying_ everywhere like fireworks on display!"

Harpuia blinked, his face doing all in its power to not show any emotion at all. "And that is exactly why you're not coming." his brother then said before turning away. "If you come along someone is just destined to get hurt, and we can't have that."

"You…. You just think that I'll show you up!" Fefnir then hollered as his fingers dug into the palm of his hands. "You don't want me to come because it might disrupt your needless attempts to seduce Mother! She doesn't love you- she barely shows love for the fake! Heh, I bet she's never felt any kind of emotion toward any Reploid. I think she messes with you, teasing you, giving you reasons to stay up at night to pleasure-"

"Out!" Harpuia screeched at Fefnir, his face red enough to stop traffic. "And I don't want to see you for the rest of the year! Do you fucking hear me?!"

"Did I step on the pretty boy's toe?" Fefnir sneered mischievously. "Funny enough, I knew you liked her, but I didn't think it was _true_!"

The green Guardian did not answer, doing all in his power to hold back from destroying the red Guardian to the wire.

In hindsight, Fefnir was lucky to have made it out of there alive.

But even with the minor victory, he was still angry that he wasn't allowed to go on the mission. He'd be lucky if Harpuia let him go on any missions after that talk. After a discussion like that, who else to go to whine to than the Mother Elf herself? Of course, that meant being berated by her too.

"He was really angry after you said those things to him." the Mother Elf said to Fefnir in a tone that was no less angry than interested.

"It was great." Fefnir grinned. "Did you see how red his face got? Mother, I thought he was going to explode!"

"Now he'll warrant unintended anger toward those he'd be working with today."

"Sucks for them. And if they start to ignore him which makes him even more upset, then he'd know that's what he gets for telling me that I couldn't come."

"I'm fairly confident that that isn't how such a situation works my little lycan..."

Fefnir huffed as he folded his arms in defiance- the Mother Elf could be a real buzz kill sometimes...

"Technically," she then started to say, "If the griffin should fall in battle, they would have no choice but to call you in to the front line..."

"You would do that?" the Guardian questioned, raising and eyebrow with interest and surprise.

"I didn't plan on immediately instigating it."

"'Immediately'." Fefnir repeated, a small teasing smile curling onto his lips. There were times he admittedly could not picture her as a dark minded program, but this certainly was an interesting development on his part.

"It was for the best, you understand." the Mother Elf then told him. "There were moments that your siblings feared that you could not be unbroken from a path of pure destruction."

Fefnir snorted. "Destruction? Fireworks are explosions disguised as works of art! Flare guns can singe the skin of an unfortunate human who's brain cells had taken holiday. Even you Mother, are pure form of destruction that takes on a smoking hot body that more folks than the ass kisser would jack off to if you showed them what you looked like."

"With you as the exception?"

The grin on Fefnir's face quickly shattered.

"From what I could see," the Mother Elf then said as her hologram lingered closer and closer to Fefnir's body, "The only Guardian that has never shown any kind of interest to… subjecting to my conscious would be the tulpa. I watch all four of you sleep at night, and I think you'd agree with me that who we are in the dark and in our own subconscious says a lot about us- don't you think?"

"I… I have to be somewhere else." Fefnir quickly told the Mother Elf as he started to head out the door with a face riddled with embarrassment.

"Stay away from fireworks." the Mother Elf reminded as her hologram let out a sneaky little grin.

"Yes Mother..."

. . .

There was nothing he could possibly do after seeing the Mother Elf. The other Guardians had understudies, of sorts- someone to take up their roles should they fall in battle and another Guardian could not be there to help. Fefnir didn't have a support system like that as seeing he never felt the need. If he did have such an understudy, today would have been a rather excellent time to train them.

But he didn't, so it didn't matter.

Trading his armor for some street clothes, Fefnir decided to take a walk through Neo Arcadia. Not much was going on in the city either, but at least the constant movement of the crowd as they went about their normal lives in peace kept the Guardian from getting too bored during his walk. Fefnir walked along the sidewalk of Neo Arcadia's bustling downtown until he got to a crosswalk. While waiting for the light to change (because he promised to be good, which meant no jaywalking) someone tackled him from behind.

"Give me your money or you won't get hurt!" the person said. Fefnir let out a smirk as he took no effort to flip the attacker in front of him. His attacker let out a groan as his body smacked the hard concrete with a crack- this was the hint Fefnir took to assume that his attacker was human. He had no remorse for them however; serves them right. The Guardian got down to the human's eye level and gave them a terrifying glare.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you to not sneak up on a Reploid who's physical capabilities far surpass your own?" Fefnir questioned with a Chesire grin. The human trembled as a response. Fefnir rolled his eyes before helping the human get up while his facial recognition programs searched the Neo Arcadian archives for who this person could be.

An idiot, obviously, but he needed more than that.

"Aksal Chiamanda." Fefnir mumbled. The human looked up at him.

"Yes?"

Now part of a conversation he didn't mean to start, Fefnir went with the information he knew. "Why are you not maintaining Neo Arcadia's power systems?" the Guardian inquired. "There's not a single reason why someone in your position should be on the street panhandling and mugging everyone."

"I'm not there 'cuz I got fired." Aksal told Fefnir as he stretched his back. "When there's a power shortage, employment gets a bit short too- don't you agree?"

When Fefnir didn't answer, Aksal continued. "But you're right. It isn't a reason for me to start mugging. And believe me, if more folks held up a fight like you do, man… I'd be in the hospital with bills I'll never be able to pay off!"

Fefnir was only half listening. Something wasn't right if Neo Arcadia was having problems with power- the fake never told them anything about that. If it was bad enough that they had to lay off workers, how come none of the Guardians knew about this? Without saying a thing to Aksal, Fefnir spun on his heel and started to run to Copy X for an explanation. This needed to be addressed, and it needed to be addressed _now_.

And if the fake choose to ignore him, Fefnir had ways of making Copy X scream- and not one of them were going to be pretty either.


	10. Harpuia: TK-31

**Mother, make me: Make me a bird of prey so I can rise above this and let it fall away!**

. . .

Copy X looked even more sour than usual, not that it phased Harpuia.

"The Hunter's Guild has found the almost complete ruins of an informational library lost during the Elf Wars." Copy X informed Harpuia. "They have conversed with the Neo Arcadian Administration Bureau to survey the area, and have come to request my presence in overseeing their investigations."

"That sounds like an interesting arrangement." Harpuia said.

"However," the fake continued, "I am unable to oversee the site."

For a split second, Harpuia was almost unable to refrain himself from questioning Copy X's schedule. But he caught himself (just barely) in time, and remained silent.

"As the first of the Four Guardians, you are -by law- my second in command." Copy X then droned, not wanting to give the spiel any more than Harpuia wanted to hear it. "Therefore, it is your duty to go on to the survey area with both the NAAB and Hunter's Guild to supervise their expeditions."

"I would be unable to do that." Harpuia softly argued. "I was called to oversee the signing of a treaty between..."

"Fairy Leviathan has already agreed to go in your place." Copy X informed Harpuia harshly. The news did more than shock the green Guardian, it was almost on the edge of anger.

"Why would she do that?!" Harpuia questioned, losing his composure to argue against Neo Arcadia's highest authority. "That meeting is going to take too long for her to stand! Leviathan can't be out of the water for too long or she'll…!"

"It is her duty as commander of the Meikai Army and third member of Neo Arcadia's Four Guardians to oversee the signing just as well as you can." Copy X spat, silencing Harpuia with a horrifying glare. "When I informed her of the situation, she agreed almost immediately- whereas, we now have you, exercising your right to be more stubborn than Fefnir. I expected more from you XF#1, Sage Harpuia."

"You expect too much." Harpuia chillingly replied before turning to leave what he was requested to do.

. . .

Sage Harpuia paced from the Transerver to the survey point while trying to get a communication line to Leviathan.

"Direct line to XF#3, Fairy Leviathan." his sister's voice greeting from inside his headset, confirming the connection.

"I don't care what he told you," he immediately declared into the headset, "You had all right to refuse going to that treaty signing in my place!"

A silence on the other end of the connection made Harpuia fear for a moment that the connection hadn't been secure.

"He didn't force me to do anything." Leviathan then replied carefully. "I made the decision on my own."

"Siren, so help me if I find out he did anything..."

"You can ask the Mother Elf yourself if you don't believe me you stupid griffin." Leviathan snapped.

"M-mother?" Hapruia fumbled as it never occurred to him that he could have reviewed all of this with the Mother Elf before coming to the survey site. In fact, maybe he could just pop in now if he could…

"Have you already completed your new mission?" Leviathan then asked, snapping Harpuia out of his thoughts.

"I'm on my way now." he confirmed, even giving a cheesy smile as if she could see it. "Stay hydrated during that signing, it's going to take awhile. I normally have to keep from going to sleep after the first hour- I can't imagine how you're going to feel from being above shore that long."

"I've got it covered! I hired an Aqua Man unit to keep me going, I'll be fine. But for now I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Alright." Harpuia agreed. "See you soon." and with that the two severed the communication link between them as the green Guardian arrived at the survey site.

After being introduced to all those involved with the project, Harpuia then allowed everyone to begin researching the survey site.

The site itself could have been rather impressive back in its heyday- perhaps even now if someone could show a bit more love and work to it than what it had been given after the Elf War. Just walking along, Harpuia noticed that the floors were once made of superior marble (real marble!) that still had yet to crumble from age. Shelves that contained rows of books -or even plant seeds on some occasions- formed the walls that distinguished each 'room' the area seemed to contain. Not all the books were salvageable, Harpuia found with some degree of regret. He did find some things that wouldn't hold much value to anyone anymore, but he asked both authorities regarding the NAAB and Hunter's Guild if he could keep them- after being referred back and forth of the two parties and a quick inspection of the items he found, Harpuia was able to pocket four little trinkets out of the six he found. Three of them, he figured, his siblings could choose what they wanted and then the other would go to the Mother Elf.

As he thought over in his mind which trinket each of his siblings were sure to pick, an alarm sounded around the site. The ground was starting to shake as well, leading Harpuia to demand that everyone head toward an evacuation point immediately to get out of the area. No one had to be told twice to make a run for it, and once everyone was at the safe point Harpuia took role call. Everyone from the Hunter's Guild had make it out safely, so he went on to the ones under the Administration Bureau. As he almost finished the list of serials and given names, he called out a certain name,

"TK-31."

But no one answered.

"TK-31!" Harpuia shouted again, this time with a tone he was sure would have scared any Reploid not listening. Despite this, still no one came forward or even pretended to be TK-31. It was at this point that Harpuia was started to get annoyed- faintly, he could still hear the warning sirens go off in the library. "Where is TK-31?!"

The group of surveyors all looked around at one another, deciding who had saw TK-31 last or had any idea where he had went. The alarm was not deterring any quicker either, and with an angered huff Harpuia withdrew the Sonic Blades before rushing back inside the building. As he went through the main doors, someone from behind him shouted,

"I think he went downstairs!"

Well, at least Harpuia had a place to start looking.

. . .

The warning alarm had gone off for nearly three minutes- the computer interface that TK-31 had found went crazy shortly before that. Information poured onto the screen, overlapping some other article then opening back up again in droves. All the information at once was superiorly overwhelming, but try as he could, TK-31 couldn't look away. There was something so… addictive about this information, so… enticing. Then he saw it; he saw the true light. A simple loop of lab footage played over and over, showing that moment when their history started. The moment were a new light of hope reigned against the darkness.

That was how Harpuia found him, sitting at the computer console, staring at the loop as if it were controlling him.

"TK-31." Harpuia declared sternly. "You need to evacuate the area immediately, you are in danger if you stay here."

For a moment, the Reploid did not answer the Guardian, but when he did, he only turned his head slowly to face Harpuia- TK-31's face was devoid of emotion as a single questioned form on his lips, heard in just barely a whisper, "Is it true?"

"What are you-" Harpuia started to question before taking a glance at the console monitor. When he saw what footage was looping through the screen, he almost wished he had the means to vomit.

"The Mother Elf has a human brain, and you know it. I can see it all over your face." TK-31 declared slowly and darkly. Harpuia looked at TK-31 and realized that the Reploid now looked a bit smug, as if knowing this information some how gave him authority over Neo Arcadia's Guardian.

"The information you saw was not for public viewing." Sage Harpuia said to the Reploid in a dark, cold tone that almost immediately wiped the smirk off his TK-31's face. "Deleting your memories requires a permit and hostile intent on you part. Unless you plan on nuking Neo Arcadia with the Mother Elf's power, it is best that you forget everything that you saw. And if you ever do plan on doing such a thing to endanger Neo Arcadia's safety, I will personally erase your data until you are one file away from a perfect factory reset. Do I make myself clear?"

TK-31 looked up at Harpuia, all smugness gone in knowing that the green Guardian was not lying.

"Yes sir." the Reploid finally answered, "Perfectly clear."

. . .

Harpuia almost couldn't make it through the door of the Mother Elf's chamber before falling to his knees.

"Erase it!" he demanded, an unfamiliar feeling of little tears running down his cheeks, "Erase it all Mother!"

Calmly, and slow enough to almost grind on his already downgraded nerves, the Mother Elf's hologram materialized in front of him- sitting as if she was a child staring down at a little bug on the ground.

"Why would I do that?" she asked in a whisper.

"I saw her die. I saw the exact moment when she… Mother… Mother, now I want to die!"

The Mother Elf did not answer, but Harpuia felt a small sense of static partially disable the left side of his electronic brain.

"But what about TK-31? How do you think he feels about the information he learned? If the information where to get out, there could be unseen consequences in Neo Arcadia's security. And even if the truth stays hidden..."

Harpuia waited for the Mother Elf to give her final remark, but she didn't. Instead, the static sensation grew in intensity allowing Harpuia to lean into it as he slowly lost control of his body movements. She wasn't erasing his memory, but she was easing his pain.

"Thank you..." he muttered so quietly that he was almost inaudible. The Mother Elf, however, remained silent.


	11. Leviathan: Date

**Mother, make me; Make me a song so sweet that heaven trembles, fallen at our feet.**

. . .

It was his birthday today.

He wanted it to be a lonely one too.

Doctor Weil had already given his son his condolences before going off to do whatever it was he did during the day. Not that the teenager cared- his father had given him fifty grand this year; whatever Doctor Weil did, it sure didn't stop him from showing his regret to his son in monetary form. Albert ended up pocketing most of it any way. Perhaps being among one of Neo Arcadia's richest human citizens really did have its benefits?

As with any other day, Albert looked over his incoming mail for anything of interest. There was one document that looked rather important, so Albert opened it up. A split second later he nearly jumped out of his skin to the sound of loud train horns, and a blast of confetti that digitally sprayed against the carpet like snow. Big glaring letters spelled out the message loud and clear as a female announcer repeated over and over 'Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Happy birthday!' in the cheeriest tone that almost gave the teenager a toothache.

"Delete that stupid piece of mail and call Bionka immediately." Albert demanded toward the house's built-in digital assistant.

"Yes Master Albert." the assistant's voice agreed.

Albert casually walked over to the dining room table as the dial tone of the phone rang through the house as it tried to contact one of the few humans Albert admittedly knew.

"Connection to Bionka Acutaneous's residence confirmed," the digital assistant soon declared. "Which feed would you like to proceed with?"

"Dining room." Albert ordered without a second thought. A small beep confirmed his choice as the figure of a teenaged girl flickered into view from the middle of the dining room table. The miniature representation of the human girl was no higher than twenty-seven centimeters tall, showing her full body that gave Albert the impression that she knew he was going to call her.

"Did you get my present?" she excitedly asked. Albert only glared at Bionka.

"You are the biggest waste of imagination there is. You understand that, don't you?" Albert then said.

"So you _did_ like it! I knew you would!"

Albert rolled his eyes, less than amused to be dealing with her at the moment.

"So are you ready to go?" Bionka then asked as she held her hands behind her back and started to rock on her heels.

"Go where?" Albert questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"On our date!" Bionka cheerfully declared. But she started to flush a dark red before clarifying; "I mean, it's your date that I set up. And it's not me with you, it's you and this really nice Reploid that saved me from drowning the other day, and..."

"Hold up," Albert requesting, holding his hand in the air to silence her, "You arranged a blind date between me and a Reploid?"

Bionka nodded, a bit sheepishly, knowing that Albert was not found of Reploids. However, everything she did was to get him to do something he wouldn't normally do- and this certainly did take the cake for sure…

"What is its serial number?" Albert asked, closing his eyes in preparation of whatever Reploid unit Bionka thought would be a good match for him.

"I'm pretty sure you know her already," Bionka admitted, "She's one of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia; Fairy Leviathan."

. . .

"I can't believe you're going to go through with this." Fefnir retorted as he, Harpuia, and Phantom watched as their sister tried to brush her synthetic hair out. Although short, it would tangle just by running the brush though a small section of hair, leading the not quite girly Reploid to yank on it until was close enough to be considered decent. Then she did it again- why, she wasn't sure, then again she wasn't sure why she accepted to invitation to begin with. Phantom eventually decided to take pity upon her and helped her brush it out by taking the brush from her.

"I can't believe Albert would go through with this." Harpuia said, almost talking to himself. "It seems a bit… dangerous."

"How on earth could that be dangerous?!" Fefnir snorted.

"I don't think Albert even knows that he's going to meet me." Leviathan admitted. "It was his friend who arranged the… date."

"That brat has a _friend_?!" Fefnir exclaimed, almost immediately bursting into an uncontrollable laughter. "Who would hang around that pessimist?"

"Who would want to hang around you?" Harpuia questioned. "If it weren't for the fact that you were created from Mega Man X's DNA, you could have been labeled Maverick the moment you touched a gun."

"And no one likes a Maverick." Leviathan snickered before letting out a surprise yelp of pain when Phantom accidentally brushed too hard over a knot in her hair. The black Guardian gave a little grunt of apology as he redid the spot a bit more gently, carefully brushing the knot out.

"Albert is acquainted with Bionka Acutaneous whose family comes from a long line of dermatologists." Phantom softly informed his siblings. "It wasn't until the early Maverick Wars that they started to gain prominence with Theo Acutaneous's invention of nearly human-like Reploid skins. The results were almost horrifying of how lifelike they were, but it gave the family company a lot of money as their skins became the new standard. In retrospect, it would be odd for Albert and the young Acutaneous to not know each other."

"But who would want to be his friend?" Fefnir asked again as he folded his arms. "He's a jerk to everyone!"

"Everyone that's a Reploid." Harpuia argued, giving the red Guardian a rather hollow glare. "We don't know how he interacts with humans he respects. As far as we know, outside of Miss Acutaneous and Weil, Albert simply doesn't _know_ any other humans. Have you ever considered that Fefnir?"

For a moment, no one answered. Fefnir in particular had pursed his lips together to prevent himself from talking. Meanwhile, Phantom gave Leviathan a nod that he was done brushing her hair out for her. The female Guardian mumbled a thanks as she turned around to face her siblings to better show them what she was going to wear for her date- with no mirror to be vain, she inquired the other Guardians for their opinion.

Of course, Harpuia and Phantom only offered a sincere 'you look beautiful', but the unconventional Fefnir gave a rather mischievous grin as he snickered, "Go give that brat another boner."

. . .

There was no way that Albert could admit that he was nervous. Leviathan didn't seem all too thrilled to be there either. She looked rather nice- his compliment was well meant and deserved. Albert took quite note to remember that Leviathan had actually blushed a bit; was she even more nervous than he was maybe? A more likely scenario was that she didn't want to be here any more than he did, but leaving him behind would have been rude. In knowing that he had been honest had taken her by surprise and it brought out a moment in her that was vulnerable. Fairy Leviathan was anything but on a normal occasion; very rarely did she need or even want to look like a woman. And this time when she decided to dress up, one of Neo Arcadia's least friendly citizens complimented her- it would have been rather impolite if she hadn't blushed, to be honest.

"Bionka has some rather… interesting connections." Albert said to Leviathan carelessly after they had sat down to eat. Bionka had placed reservations for the two at a rather well-to-do bistro. The teenager found that he would have likely enjoyed it more if he wasn't sitting across to a being who couldn't eat.

"I believe her effort should be admirable." Leviathan replied, "She wants you to have friends."

Albert, despite his age, let out an indignant huff. "She needs to stop." he muttered. "Stupid girl won't leave me alone, making me do things I don't want to do with some sense of 'bettering' me or something. I could do without seeing her boisterous face for a day, or a week. Maybe even forever if that's what it takes."

"Albert, don't take her for granted!" Leviathan told him, her eyes just boarding a sense of shock. "There might be a day when you think you won't need her, but then you realize that she had meant the world to you. She makes you go out to do things because it _will_ better you. I understand that you request absolute loneliness, but you can't stay hidden forever. If that is really how you feel about her, then I think you should see her more; because she won't leave you alone, because she has some sense of bettering you, because you see her so often that you wonder what would happen if you didn't. You need to realize what little friendships you have Albert, or one day, you're going to be all alone and no better than your father."

The glare Albert gave the Guardian was highly displeased but was also secretly impressed. How would she know about keeping friends close and being lonely? She was surrounded by those of her own kind, and rumor had it that she even found a sense of courtship with the Mother Elf. The other Guardians, that Mega Man X who didn't act like what he used to, the Mother Elf herself… all of them would live for as long or longer than Leviathan could, so what right did the female Guardian have to tell him about losing friends?

Leviathan went silent after that too, bitterly dwelling on her brother's words. Albert had no respect- it didn't matter if it was for humans or Reploids, respect just wasn't one of Albert's capabilities. When it came time to eat, she didn't try to look at him as she mimicked the motions needed for the human activity despite how unfamiliar it was to her. She knew that he watched her the entire time. The Guardian was relieved when it was over, while Albert still looked as if he had something else planned. With little words they bid good bye to each other with the invisible message of taking each other down next time they met, then Albert went off to greet Bionka.

"How did it go?" Bionka asked as she bounced on her toes from anticipation.

"I'm not doing that again." Albert told her coldly.

"Okay." she replied through pursed lips.

"But it was better than staying home alone. Thank you."

Bionka beamed as she giddily hugged him. Albert's muscles tightened at the unwanted embrace and he had half a mind to shove her off, but something Leviathan said had eaten away a bit at his skull. Slowly, grudgingly, Albert accepted to hug and extended the gesture, hugging Bionka back with a small squeeze.

Not too far away, but away from their view, the siren smiled.


	12. Back In Time

_**I wanted an opportunity to kick Copy X a bit. And then I wanted Fefnir to make faces at Zero like a stubborn child. I think I accomplished that pretty well, but with that being said, this chapter is going to considered non-canonical to the rest of the story and will never be referenced again. Thanks for reading so far!**_

. . .

Dr Weil had called them to his personal laboratory early in the morning. The first was the Guardians to arrive was Harpuia, the last was Fefnir (along with a lot of groaning about getting up too early). It surprised the four of them to see Copy X there, standing in a transport capsule that was connected to some kind of machine that looked vaguely human (or Reploid, really) like in shape.

Copy X looked as if they had arrived late, and seemed highly impatient.

"What the heck is this death trap Weil?" Fefnir demanded first, noticing that four more transport capsules were connected to the main machine.

"A time machine of sorts, and I want you five to test it." Weil told them. "The original product was loosely based off of the facial modeling of the original Mega Man X, with several quantum-physic variables added to create the first and only time traveling Reploid. Of course, I removed the Reploid portion of its DNA so that any thing that may remain is strictly time manipulation."

"Why can't you test it yourself then?" Fefnir questioned without a moment's hesitation.

"Because it still requires a Reploid-like body to manipulate it." Weil replied, with little emotion to his expression of voice. "If a human were to go through the machine, they may not make it out alive."

"Are all of us really required for this experiment?" Harpuia then asked. Dr Weil did not look the green Guardian in the eye as a single word left his mouth;

"Yes."

And then room fell into a silence.

"Now, if you Four Guardians would please, step into a transport capsule so we can begin." Dr Weil instructed them. Giving each other a wary look, the four Reploids did as they were told without another word- although some certainly did go unsaid.

"While you are exploring, you may find that you will not be able to touch anything." Dr Weil also told them. "It is quite similar to how the Mother Elf navigates; existing but not feeling. That is exactly how you will navigate as well. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir." all the Reploids replied in unison. Without another word, Dr Weil activated the machine. For a moment, it appeared as if nothing was happening, but then the Reploids received a horrifying shock that shot through their systems without warning. One by one, they each surrendered to the pain and when they woke back up, they were standing in a completely different room.

"Where are we?" Leviathan asked as the five of them took a look around.

"In the past." Phantom quipped.

"Yeah, we know that genius." Fefnir snarled. "Where did we end up?"

"Don't you mean 'when'?" Harpuia smirked as he looked up at something on a nearby wall.

"Whatever." Fefnir growled under his breath.

The green Guardian let out a small, satisfied smile as they all continued to look around. It didn't that long for them to discover that they had been placed in someone's home, and it was soon Leviathan who found that they weren't alone.

"What did you find Leviathan?" Copy X inquired as he walked over to where Leviathan was standing. Everyone followed the leader and crowded around the couch in the main living area. There, the five Reploids held their breaths when they realized that they were looking at the Mother Elf.

Or… at least they were looking at the woman who would later be known as the Mother Elf.

"She wants to be called Sephira." Copy X thoughtfully said out loud as he looked over her with a sense of love that he didn't show anyone else. He then tried to place a gentle hand on her head, but his hand fell right through. Horribly shocked, Copy X tried again, but it passed right through again. Starting to feel as angry as he was confused, Copy X now tried to desperately get a hold of her- either it be on her hand or an attempt to pick her up.

"Why… can't… I… touch… her…?!" Copy X demanded as he tried in futility to get any kind of hold on Sephira.

"It's just like Weil said." Harpuia told the fake, attempting to reassure his leader without touching him. "We see and feel the world as the Mother Elf does. We can not touch others because she can not."

"But why here?" Copy X snapped, turning to face the Guardians with absolute fury. "Why her? Why us?!"

"If that's been his intent all along, I'd think that it would be a new low for that bastard." Fefnir admitted.

"Did he mean to do this?" Leviathan questioned.

"He's testing us." Phantom spoke up. "He's testing for... something. I feel it's toward you in particular Tekiya. Can't you see it?"

"But why her?!" the fake demanded in a tone so fierce that it nearly shook the little shack. It was enough, apparently, that it woke Sephira up.

"X…?" she groggily mumbled as her eyelids slowly started to open. "Is it really that late?"

The Guardians and Copy X froze in place as the human slowly started to become more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes eventually fell onto Copy X himself, and she gave a still half-tired smile that almost made the Reploid lose feeling in his limbs.

"You look so stupid in the getup." she lightly laughed. "Our life is interesting enough, I don't think you need to role play."

"I like her already." Fefnir mumbled with a satisfied grin. Hearing a different voice made Sephira realize that Copy X wasn't the only one in the room too, and she nearly jumped at seeing them.

"Who are you?!" she then demanded as she attempted to sit up, hopefully getting some chance of a running start if they decided to attack her. But she got up too quickly, as she then let out a small yelp of pain before holding her side. Instinctively, the Guardians and Copy X rushed to her side and attempted to help her- she flinched when they all tried to touch her, and she looked up at them with a confused expression.

"Who _are_ you?" she questioned again. "And why do you all kinda look like..."

"We're sorry to have bothered you Mo- madam." Copy X quipped first, almost making the mistake of calling her by the Mother Elf's name. "We are Reploids from a fairly distant time ahead of your own, via a dimensional wormhole that one of our influential leaders created. You may address me as Tekiya if you wish."

"Faker..." Sephira muttered to herself, before directly speaking to him, "And who are the clowns with you?"

"Clowns!" Fefnir snickered to himself. "I love this woman so much already, I might just stay here with her."

"The red one is Fighting Fefnir," Harpuia spoke up, giving his brother a rather dangerous look before turning to Sephira kindly. "I am Sage Harpuia, his older brother. My other brother and only sister are also here, Hidden Phantom (who is denoted in gray), and Fairy Leviathan (who is denoted in light blue). We make up the protectors of our city under the sobriquet of the Four Guardians. Tekiya is the leader of our city, and needed our assistance with this adventure."

"So who's watching your city while you're here?" the crafty human woman questioned. Suddenly, an idea hit the Guardians as if it never occurred to them- Copy X still seemed unfazed, however.

"Rest assured madam, we have other means of protection for our city." the leader informed her. Sephira gave a slow nod and said nothing against it.

"And here I thought I wouldn't go crazy from blood loss." she muttered instead with a groan as she laid back against the couch. She flinched for a moment as her body reclined, only letting out a sigh when she was comfortable again. The Guardians and Copy X backed away from her a bit to allow her to breathe. Sephira let out a long sigh as she turned to look at the odd group again, and her face moulded into a confused little expression.

"Why aren't you leaving? Usually my imagination flashes back into my mind with a wish- but you insane weirdos are still here."

"We need to request to leave." Copy X softly informed her. "You can't just will us away."

"You better leave before my eloper gets back." she spat back. "He can be a killer when he wants to. One look at you here and you can kiss your electronic AIs good bye. He's good at taking out AIs; too good in fact."

Copy X opened his mouth to give a matter-of-fact response, but was cut off when the door started to alert them that someone was trying to get into the house. Sephira gave Copy X a rather satisfied smirk as the door opened up.

"Seph are you alright?" came the concerned voice as its accompanied body came through the door. "Zero and I could hear you talking on the other side..."

"I'm fine." Sephira insisted while the original Mega Man X walked over to her to give a small kiss on the forehead. "I woke up from a nap, nothing spectacular."

"That's good to hear." X smiled, giving her another kiss. Sephira gave a smirk toward Copy X and the Guardians- any moment now… surely X could see them too. Right?

"You two could get a room." Zero impatiently huffed, standing by the door looking like he wanted to be any where but here.

"I tried getting up earlier, it didn't work out very well for me." Sephira muttered.

"I'm going to start dinner!" X quickly said, wanting to avoid any verbal fights the two were sure to get into.

"Right." Zero mused to himself as he diverted his attention to something else in the room. Responding to this with a rather curious, devious thought, Fefnir walked over to get a better look at Zero then proceeded to make rather ridiculous faces at the older Reploid. Zero didn't move an inch, nor realize that a Reploid from the future was teasing him.

"Fefnir." Harpuia hissed, attempting to get his brother out of possible trouble. The red Guardian turned to his brother and shrugged innocently, accidentally brushing his elbow against Zero in the process: this did cause a response, and the older Reploid shivered.

"When humans lose blood, they feel colder- not warmer." Zero coldly said as he made his way over the armchairs that sat across from the couch. Leviathan, who had decided to test her luck, was already trying to sit in one of them. "I think you could pull the dial back on you A/C..."

"You can't sit there!" Sephira quickly told Zero, as he attempted to sit on the armchair. The same armchair that Leviathan had tried occupying a few moments ago.

"Why not?"

The woman did not answer as she looked over at Leviathan, who was previously unaware that Zero was trying to sit down, and had then quickly jumped out of the spot and into a corner looking visibly ashamed. Sephira had gone silent, looking at Leviathan before shaking her head and looking back over at Zero.

"Never-" she started to say before X came back into the room. X looked at Zero and gave him a funny look.

"Why don't you sit?" the blue Reploid inquired to his friend thoughtfully.

"I'm not allowed to." Zero replied.

"Why not?"

"She won't let me."  
X then turned to Sephira with a confused raise of his eyebrow.

"I thought I saw something there." the woman explained quickly. "In fact, I was just going to tell him that he could sit, and my eyes were just playing tricks on me."

"You were not." Zero argued.

"I was." Sephira replied darkly.

X glanced from Sephira to Zero with a conflicted face. "Why can't you two just get along?"

"Why do Reploids have one track minds?" Sephira questioned just as Zero asked, "Why can't some humans just keel over and die?"

X just stared at them before quickly turning on his heel to go back to the kitchen. "I'm going to go check on the yakisoba before it's ruined." he declared. "Unlike the chance of you two getting along."

"X!" Sephira suddenly said, "Before you go back, can you help me to my room please?"

"Of course." he agreed at the same time Zero let out an annoyed grunt.

X then helped Sephira sit up and stand before navigating her over to the only bedroom in the tiny home. Copy X and the Guardians squeezed into the room while X carefully placed Sephira in her bed and even covered her up.

"Dinner will be ready soon." X said to her, giving a small peck near her ear. "Think you can hold on until then?"

"I'm not going to die in ten minutes." Sephira playfully huffed.

"You don't know that." X replied tonelessly before giving her another kiss, this time on the lips and desperate. Copy X recoiled a bit- in their time Mega Man X was revered as a hero, but this…? He was vulnerable. Scared. And with all this talk, he still rejected the Mother Elf as her incarnate. This Mega Man X, the original, was so… weak. Why would anyone remember him as a fearless figure when this is what he acted like behind closed doors? It wasn't admirable in any light. It was… well, pathetic.

"I'll come back when its ready." X then told Sephira. She nodded in agreement before he started to head back out, closing the door behind him. Carefully, the dying human woman turned to see if Copy X and the Four Guardians were still there, and they were.

"I thought I was too old to have imaginary friends again." Sephira mumbled, just loud enough for the five to hear but not to alert X and Zero. "When I was a little girl, I had a time traveling friend named Over-1. He kinda looked like X when I think about it (maybe that's why I'm so attracted to him now) and you five… if X could have a twin and children, I'm sure you'd be the perfect examples. If you… if you five ever see Over-1, can you tell him that… tell him that I haven't forgotten about him. And I miss him, a lot..."

The Guardians all nodded their head in agreement, and Copy X let out an affirming word before giving a promising bow. Sephira smiled at them all before she started to drift into a dreamless sleep, and they too started to fade from that world back into their own.

What waited for them back in their own time wasn't as prosperous as what Sephira could dream for.

"Well?" Weil demanded. "What did you learn?"

The Guardians said nothing and looked to Copy X, in a way, they all knew that it was going to be his job to give the report.

"We were taken to a time before the Mother Elf was activated." Neo Arcadia's ruler announced calmly. "We were introduced to a small household where the situations in their private lives were… bleak, to say the least. The lady of the house knew a bit of the technology we used and was able to see us, her male cohorts, however, could not."

"She could see you?" Weil questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"We have decided it was because she was once introduced to the same technology we used to see her." Copy X agreed. "Through a mutual connection, we were able to see and discuss things with each other although others could not see us. It was quite interesting, and might warrant further study."

"What information about the Mother Elf did you gain?" Weil asked, a hint in his voice indicated a sense of impatience.

"As I told you," Copy X affirmed with authority, "It was a time before the Mother Elf was constructed, there was no information to be studied. We simply visited a dying woman who could see us and had a light conversation with her."

Dr Weil looked Copy X over before accepting his words without another motion.

"Leave." the scientist then requested to the Reploids. "I'll let you five know if I'll need you again."

All nodding in agreement, The Four Guardians and Copy X left the room. The fake then bid farewell to the Guardians before heading off on his own -possibly in the direction of the Mother Elf- leaving the Guardians to head back to their assigned positions.

"I can't believe Tekiya lied to Dr Weil..." Phantom whispered before they departed from each other. After a moment's thought, his siblings all nodded their head in agreement then left in their own directions without another word.


	13. Phantom: Bionka

The shadows were the place Hidden Phantom would always be destined to crawl in whenever someone needed him to. Did he like it? Well, if he didn't, he sure didn't tell anyone. Only the Mother Elf could tell if he did enjoy what he was commanded to do, and she surely wasn't going to tell anyone about her thoughts any time soon.

The assignment that he was on at the moment involved him stashing away his Neo Arcadian armor for street clothes. It was going to help him blend in, he was told, but blend in from what?

Meeting him at the rendezvous point was a human man that Hidden Phantom quickly registered as Sir Theo Acutaneous the Third. The man noticed the Guardian approaching and straightened himself to be better presentable; a trait humans exercised when they believed that they were more superior than Reploids.

"Thank you for coming Hidden Phantom, and without your protection." Sir Acutaneous greeted, extending his arm to give the Reploid a handshake. "My daughter… she saw her mother die by the hands of Mavericks. She has a hard time trusting any Reploid as a precaution, which is why I have asked of you to come without your armor."

So that was why…

"May I ask what your daughter has to do with me coming here?" Phantom questioned, ignoring the man's gesture. In turn, the human put his hand down. The man reached into a pocket on his high collar formal coat and withdrew a folded sheet of paper to hand to Phantom.

"My daughter Bionka is being targeted by the Emerald Spears group." informed Sir Acutaneous as Hidden Phantom read over the note himself. "They would like us to step down from our position in Reploid dermatology -a threat we have been demanded of since the Maverick Wars."

"Why her?" Phantom asked, putting the note away for later in hammerspace.

A perplexed expression etched across Sir Acutaneous's features. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "She is the first female member born into our family for a long time. Per tradition, our branch may not continue if she is in charge due to the patriarchal system set years ago. I personally have plans of redacting this before she comes of age, but part of the Emerald Spear's plan is in regards to her termination as future president of the company."

Hidden Phantom looked over the human man with a fairly melancholy stare. "By having me here protecting your daughter, you and I both cause a serious breach in Neo Arcadia's safety." the Reploid simply put.

"How is my daughter's safety any different than that of the son of Dr Barlet Weil?" the man challenged in a cold voice. "Rumor has it that he regularly hires a Guardian to watch over his son while he goes off on some outward mission, or attends some meeting; then there are rumors of Weil himself receiving special care from the very ones designed to protect everyone! How could you deny me, an abiding citizen of Neo Arcadia, the same treatment that Dr Weil receives?"

"You, Sir Acutaneous, are no mere citizen of Neo Arcadia. You are one of the elite, and you have no right comparing yourself to someone with a lesser status. Like… the mailman. If the mailman's daughter were to be attacked by an… armed Maverick, by example, and I am tending to your daughter who is in no threat at the time, should I be held responsible for not acting to save the mailman's daughter due to babysitting yours?"

"Of course not! You should act on whatever scenario would save a life- it's in your programming!"

"Which would mean ignoring your daughter. Now, imagine the same situation but across town, and for your daughter's safety I choose to leave her. What do you feel about that? Do you still think that I should leave her alone with your enemy after her?"

"If you don't think that I can't see what you're doing…!"

"You'll find someone else to guard your daughter?" Phantom entertained with a tilt of his head. "Go ahead, I certainly won't stop you."

"If you can't watch her for twelve hours, then just tell me you ridiculous Reploid!" the man angrily thundered to Phantom, who remained where he was as if nothing was wrong. "If that's what you want so much, then I will hire someone else to do the job! Hitmen are cheaper and easier to deal with than you!"

"If a hitman is really your next line of defense for your daughter, then I will take the proposition." the Guardian decided. "Obviously, your daughter's safety means enough to you that you could jeopardize both her safety and that of those around her. You are more dangerous than anyone else who could harm her Sir Acutaneous."

The human's face flared a deep red color, but he said nothing further.

. . .

Bionka was waiting for them with a nanny inside a nearby cafe. The girl couldn't have been much older than eleven; she had fair skin, icy blue eyes that refused to look at him, hair so blonde that it almost seemed white, and her face overall was shaped like a heart, and held the promise of being a beautiful adult in fruition. She also seemed to be in an oblivion about the current situation, if she had been told of it at all.

"Bionka." Sir Acutaneous declared, surprising the child but she turned to acknowledge him. The child smiled at her father as he sat next to her. Phantom, walking behind, took a seat next to Bionka's nanny.

"I've brought someone who said that they will watch over you for a little bit." the man then said to his daughter, "This is-"

"Tulpa Hikari." Phantom cut before Sir Acutaneous could come up with a name himself. Bionka gave Phantom an odd look before taking a sip from her drink. She obviously found that it was an odd name, but said nothing against it.

"It's nice to meet you Tulpa." the child finally said in a small voice, not sure whether she wanted to trust him yet or not.

"The pleasure is all mine madam." Phantom greeted in turn. Bionka went silent again, not for once leaving her gaze on him as she took another sip of her drink.

. . .

Phantom glanced outside of the window for anyone coming. Bionka had no idea that she was being targeted, that much was obvious now. Humans, although with some variations, were still predictable. Bionka knew nothing because if she had, she would not have been peacefully sitting on her bed reading a science fiction book.

The Reploid ran several scans over the area to investigate any anomalies that may have popped up in the last minute. With the scan complete, he looked back out the window again- watching for any being that could be coming up to the Acutaneous home.

"You can sit you know." Bionka told Phantom, almost succeeding in surprising him. He had been concentrating hard enough on keeping her safe that he almost forgot she was with him. Regardless, the Guardian sat by her on her bed, as there was no other place for him to sit, and the two looked at each other for some time before saying anything. Phantom took the opportunity to conduct another quick scan.

"My father hired you to protect me." Bionka slowly said, breaking Phantom out of his process. The Guardian nodded.

"You have a weird name." the child then said.

Hidden Phantom tilted his head at her, wondering for a moment what she was thinking of. "My mother chose my given name. It's rather fitting, I think." The Guardian looked down at Bionka's book. "What are you reading?"

"Isaac Asimov."

" _I, Robot_ is quite a classic, don't you think?"

"This one's part of the Foundation series; I've never actually read anything from the Robot series..."

"I can understand." Hidden Phantom decided. "The most interesting aspect of the Robot series at whole are the Three Laws of Robotics, as it is the only thing most folks know of."

Bionka nodded, ending the conversation there and went back to reading. A small ping on the back of Phantom's drives reminded him that Bionka's mother had died due to a Reploid not obeying the Laws of Robotics. In the silence, Hidden Phantom conducted another scan- to his horror, something came up.

"Bionka, I need you to hide somewhere." the Guardian told her coldly. Picking up on his change, Bionka looked at him.

"Why?"

"I need you to hide," Phantom snapped at her, "Now!"

Before Bionka could give another question, the doors to her room snapped open; a split second after a round of firearms shot toward Bionka's direction. The human girl let out a scream of horrified surprise before jumping out of her bed and under it- Phantom wasted no time rushing toward the assailants to disarm them. The drone leading wasn't too hard, the Guardian was able to swipe its weapon and pull out its cognitive circuit in one motion. The two behind that one aimed at Phantom and fired round after round of ammunition that he was just barely able to dodge. Hidden Phantom withdrew the Dark Cross, and aimed at the assailant's necks, cutting them clean off in a single swing. Whoever had sent this small group had decided on making them Mavericks- that was good to know.

Only three drones to get the girl? That was… disappointing. Once the Emerald Spears found out that the mission wasn't a success, they were sure to send more though. Phantom could find someone to stop them before that. For now, he needed to let Bionka know that everything was safe again; his scanner had registered that she had gone out the window to escape during the fight.

Going the conventional route, the Guardian found her outside hidden in a bush.

"It's safe now." he said to her, peeking into the bush. Bionka looked up at him awkwardly before standing up and getting out of the bush. Phantom helped her, taking note that she was holding onto her wrist tightly. He could tell that it wasn't from nerves or adrenaline- there was something else wrong.

"Are you alright?" Hidden Phantom asked. Bionka looked up at him as if she was confused on why he was asking her that, then looked down at her wrist in realization.

She nodded regardless. "Daddy taught me how to escape through the window, but I didn't stick the landing."

Hidden Phantom studied the area, then offered to look at it closer- the child obligated to allow Phantom to made a better analysis.

"It's sprained..." he thought out loud. "Even if you didn't 'stick the landing', you could have been hurt much greater."

The child looked up at Phantom, reclaiming her arm to hold again as she lulled over something in her mind. "You…" she slowly started to say after awhile, "You're a Reploid… aren't you?"

Hidden Phantom gave the girl a blank look, but he did give her a solemn nod. "I am actually Hidden Phantom, the fourth member of the Four Guardians of Neo Arcadia. It was your father's request that I keep my identity away from you, due to a past trauma."

"My mom..."

The Guardian nodded. "I'm sorry about your loss," he said again. "I can't imagine what it would be like to lose one of my own siblings like that- let alone my mother."

"I was really young when Mom died, I don't remember her much anymore, so don't feel sorry for me. I'm glad you helped me. Thank you… Hidden Phantom."

"Phantom would be fine enough." the Guardian insisted. Bionka looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you Phantom." she thanked gratefully. Her smile was infectious, so Phantom smiled back.

. . .

A few months later, the Acutaneous family was holding their annual auction and gala. For the first time, the Four Guardians were actually invited- made the guests of honor, in fact. Harpuia already had a previous engagement and could not come, Fefnir just didn't want to go (and no one felt like arguing with him at the moment), so only Leviathan and Phantom went.

It was one of the better parties that the two had ever been to; much more lively than the events Dr Weil came up with.

Phantom was not surprised to see Bionka bound up to him as if he was an old friend. The girl was dressed in a dainty, blue chiffon dress that fell to the ground like a curtain. She tripped on it a lot, but that didn't stop her from running toward him. When she approached Hidden Phantom, she took a moment to catch her breath then looked up at him with blushing cheeks.

"I… I have a gift for you..." Bionka sheepishly said to Phantom, bringing out a small package from behind her back. The Guardian raised an eyebrow before taking the small package from the child, then opened it up. Inside was an analog pocket watch with an engraved design, interlaid on the otherwise simple cover, over the actual face. To say that Phantom was surprised at the gift would have been an understatement. Handmade analog clocks were rare in Neo Arcadia, and this particular one seemed to have been passed down for several generations.

"It predates the Maverick Wars." Bionka offered, taking extra notice of the Guardian's shocked expression. "And that etch on the cover, that's my family's crest… or logo. Whichever one is more relevant I guess."

"I can't accept this." Hidden Phantom told the girl, attempting to give it back to her, but she pushed it back to him.

"It's been passed down from each male member until me, and I'm not a guy, and I don't want to have kids. So I want you to have it, because you'll take better care of it. I know you will."

"I have no use for it." the Guardian told the child, trying to hand it back to her with the same results as before.

"If you can't take care of it, give it to someone who will. Promise me!" Bionka demanded with eyes wide with a fierce passion. It was almost admirable. It was almost heartbreaking…

"I will give it to someone who can take care of it." the Guardian slowly said. "She'll take good care of it I think, she has many other knick-knacks in her collection but she could make use of this as well some day."

The corner of Bionka's lips curled into a smile before she took the Guardian around the middle for a tight hug. Out of response, Phantom flinched at the sudden embrace, but he did reciprocate it.

"Never change." Bionka whispered as she clung to Phantom tighter. Hidden Phantom did not answer, and instead questioned what he had done to present this kind of reaction.


	14. Fefnir: Defrag

Defrag: it was a term used for old personal computers to make a system run faster. For Reploids, the meaning came to a… much different exercise. It was a Reploid's form of getting high- to forget the world momentarily in a land of dizzying illusions and heightened emotions. Special tools were needed to achieve a Defrag, very tiny, very precise tools, and the prices placed on them have steadily climbed since the Maverick wars. More Reploids wanted to forget Mavericks, some just wanted an excuse to not be around humans for a few hours. Others just wanted to get the off chance of dabbling in Defrag to kill themselves.

Fighting Fefnir was a frequent practitioner of Defrag. His venture into purposely wrong tune ups started the first time he was commanded to harm a human. Sure, that human was pretty freaking dangerous, 'repurposing' discarded Reploids into machines of vast destruction and all that, but it had been jarring for him at the time. A month and a half before that, Fefnir had just been activated. Even the hardest of war veterans have their share of nightmares, and Fefnir was no exception. Due to his status, however, he didn't have to stoop to lower levels to get what he needed. He only had one source, and she always delivered.

"No." the Mother Elf told Fefnir, her hologram's arms crossed and her foot likely tapping if she had one.

"Oh, come on Mother," Fefnir grinned, sounding so innocent the tone was almost foreign. "I've been a good little Reploid, I deserve a treat."

The Mother Elf's hologram raised an eyebrow. "Who's definition of 'good' are you referring to, lycan? Surely not society's, and I hope it's not by your own either."

"Look," Fefnir retorted looking a bit annoyed now, "If you don't want to do it, then fine- whatever. I can go somewhere else!"

"Then why are you here?" the Mother Elf asked. "If you knew that I would deny you, why did you not choose to see someone else?"

Fefnir's mind raced to think of a good reason, an excuse, or anything to shoot back at her- but nothing came out. The corners of his mouth knit into a tight line as the Mother Elf's hologram looked down on him stoically.

"Come here lycan." she then insisted. "And remove your helmet."

"Yes ma'am." Fefnir quickly agreed, sounding all too eager to be submissive, as he ripped off his helmet and tossed it to the ground. The Mother Elf's hologram looked him over before carefully placing a finger under his chin. The Guardian flinched from the immediate sensation of static from her invisible touch, tilting his head up higher.

"If you want this, you need to hold still." scolded the Mother Elf nonchalantly.

"I want it." Fefnir snarled in agreement. Letting out a little huff of her own, the Mother Elf's hologram slowly slid her hand from the Guardian's chin, tracing his jaw line to his ear and above to mimic the action of combing his hair. A stupid grin slipped across Fefnir's face as the static claimed his electronic brain, sending dulled red alerts throughout his body as it partially disabled. The Mother Elf felt these alarms go off and went ahead to disable them- from there her hologram placed her other hand just below the Guardian's opposite ear. Slowly, tantalizing the poor Reploid, the Mother Elf moved her hologram's hand up to massage the opposite side of his uncovered head.

His brain at this point was almost rendered completely useless. Slow messes of blurry images crossed his eyes, taking on color schemes that helped him understand what they could possibly be, sounds that seemed so far off that he strained to hear but didn't care to hear any way, every emotion that he ever felt rained down on his in revelry, heightening everything. The internal clock placed inside him had stopped coherently marking the moments that went by, who knows how long he had been there letting the Mother Elf invade his thoughts as payment for his weaknesses.

"We have such stupid names." Fefnir snickered. "What the hell possessed you to come up them Mother?"

"You really want to know?" the Mother Elf asked curiously, although her hologram etched a rather bemused smile knowing that he wasn't truly coherent.

"I'm so high right now, I could kill." he affirmed. "And I like your voice- it's like a verbal orgasm."

"Alright then..." the Mother Elf muttered. "Griffins are considered symbols of strength, wisdom, and guardianship of the divine. Like our griffin, classic interpretations see many different facets of appearance. Our dear griffin, as head of your alliance, is a symbol of strength, wisdom, and guardianship to many of the city's denizens. Depending on who he is with and how he feels, effects how he lets us see him. It's rather interesting to see, actually. The choice for our siren should be rather obvious enough, even the Reploid Regulation Committee once considered naming her-"

"What the fuck's a tulpa?" Fefnir abruptly slurred as if a sudden idea came to him.

"A hidden phantom of our own creation." the Mother Elf told him, her hologram giving off a beautiful smile. A child's imaginary friend that exists with them on a physical plane. _She_ looked into it quite a bit after a certain incident. Some things you experience seem so real that you refuse to see them as dreams, but as memories."

"What about _me_ Mother?" Fefnir then cheered gleefully. "Tell me about me!"

"Brash, highly intelligent is all the wrong ways, always ready to start a fight, mental illness… Need I say anymore my love?"

Fighting Fefnir then went into an uncharacteristic giggle that made the Mother Elf end the Defrag immediately. He came down all too soon and it made him vaguely bitter.

"What was that for?" he questioned, sounding more like a child denied dessert than truly angered at her choice.

"These would last longer if you didn't giggle. It doesn't suit you." was the unsatisfying answer.

"Would you prefer I moan instead?" Fefnir smirked.

"I've heard enough Reploids moan to grant me another lifetime of sensual favors, thank you very much." retorted the Mother Elf, her hologram crossing its arms in a disapproving manner.

Fefnir snorted. "I'd fuck you if I had the means. I'd bet you'd get really wet when you're excited."

The Mother's Elf's hologram raised an eyebrow.

"But I guess we'll never know." Fefnir dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Thanks for the trip Mother, same time next week?"

The Mother Elf did not respond, allowing her hologram form to dissipate into nothing.

. . .

Late that night, Fefnir took watch of the outskirts of Neo Arcadia with a few other Reploids designed to protect. If he had taken an understudy already, like his other siblings had, then that understudy would be with him to watch the city. But he took his sweet time with the idea, preferring to work alone.

' _I want what he has. Is that so hard to ask for?_ '

Fefnir bent down as a sudden spike of pain shot through his circuits. Hallucinations? It was a little late for them, his trip with the Mother Elf was hours ago…

' _You bastard! Hurting her like some… some toy! She's human, she can't take that kind of abuse the way a Reploid can!_ '

' _Are you implying that if she was a Reploid then I wouldn't be hurting her? That this… situation would be better if she couldn't feel pain?_ '

' _Please…! Please just stop!_ '

' _I want what he has- and nothing will stop me. Nothing will stop me from what is perfectly natural…_ '

A sudden force in his groin made Fefnir let out a shout of surprise hurt. Nothing had hurt this much before; what on earth was going on? It felt as if some bug was inside him, eating away at his insides- twisting, pulling, destroying everything inside of him.

"Fighting Fefnir, are you alright?" a Reploid asked through the headset.

"Y-yeah..." Fefnir stubbornly agreed. "I'm just seeing stuff. Keep working."

"Yes sir." the Reploid affirmed, sounding more concerned for Fefnir than what the Guardian did for himself.

The Guardian found a wall to stand next to as he braced himself for the next wave of pain. It didn't get any easier, and the sensation… it was almost… no! No, he wasn't going to fathom it for a second. He was being harmed from the inside, the bug would kill him if it kept going up- didn't it realize that? It writhed and twisted its way up further, all sense of attempting to overlook the horrifying pain was gone. Pain. Too much pain. He was going to die. He was going to die right here, alone. He was going to die and when word got around to… to…

"MOTHER!" the Guardian screamed in terror and anguish. Some where, far off in the reaches of reality, a Reploid was trying to get him to respond through the headset. Fefnir didn't respond; couldn't respond to that Reploid, who soon decided to get the other Guardians out to snap their brother out of his trance. The pain -hallucination?- was slowly lifting.

' _You… you hurt her! Look, she's…_ _she's bleeding, look at her! My god... My god what have you done?!_ '

"Fefnir! Fighting Fefnir answer me! Lycan, come on, answer us!"

In a moment of sudden clarity, Fighting Fefnir lunged forward. "Sigma you bastard, I'm going to fucking kill you!" he howled in fury. He then stopped when he realized that he was only standing with his siblings. The red Guardian was so confused, although the concern in his sibling's eyes possibly beat him out of it.

"Lycan, Sigma's been dead for decades." Sage Harpuia calmly said.

"Did you recently see the Mother Elf for a Defrag?" Hidden Phantom inquired, sounding as if he already knew the answer.

"It was easier." Fefnir mumbled under his breath. "Don't wanna spend all that money of tools, you know. Got bills to pay and stuff..."

"Committing a Defrag with the Mother Elf is possibly the single most dangerous thing you could ever do." Phantom told his brother, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"We all know of her history, and you know what Defrag does to Reploid's memory circuits." Fairy Leviathan nagged as well. "Do you understand how lucky you are that you were able to come out of that hallucination?"

"By your looks alone I'd got to say pretty damn lucky, right?" Fefnir smirked. "Don't worry your pretty heads, after this trip, I don't think I'll Defrag for a long time."


	15. Harpuia: Confabulation

The Reploid population in Neo Arcadia was dropping at a terrible rate, and the power of the immerse city dictated this as well; for every hundred Reploids disappeared, the power would rise just slightly before taking a rather steep dip again. Nothing seemed to work, and the very foundation of Neo Arcadia was slowly starting to peel apart.

As Sage Harpuia soon found, the Guardians were forbidden from letting any one know about this new development. At least, no one living in the city. Loopholes could be found any where if you looked hard enough, and the Mother Elf was a loophole that Harpuia sought out regularly.

Reviewing the news he was sure she already knew, the green Guardian stops at the door to her chamber and nearly knocked. There were voices on the other side that he could just barely make out. Curious, Sage Harpuia leaned in a bit closer to the door to overhear whatever conversation was going on inside.

"We have too much in common Mother, we are perfect for each other." a voice, Harpuia knew, belonged to Copy X speaking with a matter of fact tone.

"You may be right, but there is still one major difference between you and I."

"And what is that?"

"I know that I am simply a mirror and you knowingly live in a lie. When you accept that you are not truly Him, then we can get along better. Until then however..."

"You will continue to reject me?"

"Must I spell it out even further for you?"

"No." came the short, hinting at being angered, reply. "I believe you are making yourself quite clear Mother."

A long drawn silence then fell over the two before Copy X spoke up once more, "What must I do to prove to you that you and I are one?! What can I do to show that I… that we could..."

"Tekiya," the Mother Elf resonated softly, "I already told you. And I did not think that I would have to repeat myself over, and over, and over again for you to understand that we will never, ever, ever replicate the exact relationship that they had. Even then, why would we? I already have her memories of happy times- why try to recreate them synthetically just for an aesthetic? Quite frankly, I don't see the point, nor am I going to discuss it much further with you."

"What are you saying?" Copy X snapped.

"Good bye Tekiya. That is what I am saying. Get out of my chamber and have a circular argument with someone else. I'm tired of talking right now, so get out."

In an astonished silence, Copy X remained where he was for a few moment before bitterly turning on his heel. Realizing that he was going to get caught eavesdropping, Harpuia backed himself away from the door a bit to give the idea that he was just walking up as the fake opened the door. Copy X looked as if he were about to have a tantrum when he looked up at Harpuia. If looks could have killed, the green Guardian would have been dismantled where he stood.

"What are you doing here?" Tekiya snapped at Harpuia.

"For the same reason you have apparently," was his cool response, "To seek audience of the Mother Elf."

"You're out of luck, she doesn't want to see anyone else today!"

"Tekiya… I want my griffin." the Mother Elf's voice instigated from inside her chamber. "You can not deny him because he is not coming to see you. Leave, and direct your anger toward someone else."

"Believe me..." Copy X mumbled darkly, "I will."

"Good bye Tekiya." the Mother Elf said to him, mirroring the fake's tone. Copy X left without another word, moving his body like a stiff doll that illustrated his anger. The Mother Elf's hologram folded her arms as a stern look crossed her face. Harpuia, meanwhile, entered the room and shut the door to give them a bit more privacy.

"I do wish you could have interrupted sooner griffin," the Mother Elf then resigned, "Tekiya gets so testy when things don't go his way. I suppose it is to be expected, his original had over a hundred years to get his emotions sorted out. Tekiya's still only a child, really, and treating him as such does interesting things to his judgment. I'm not sure how you and your siblings grew so splendidly compared to him. But no two Reploids are the same, and they never will be no matter how many times you revive their data."

"Mother, please tell me… am I anything like him?"

"Who my dear griffin- Tekiya or Him?"

"You know which one I mean..." Harpuia mumbled to her softly, bowing his head in shame. The Mother Elf's hologram tilted her head and placed her hands at her side. It was like she was confused… stumped even.

"Sage Harpuia..." she whispered, "Why are you comparing yourself to him? To either of them for that matter?"

The Guardian shrugged. "I don't want to be like him."

"So you count the ways that you are similar? My love, how do you function with such stress?"

"Mother… I..." Harpuia slowly muttered, placing his hand on his helmet- if his head was uncovered, his hand would have surely been combing through nervously. The Mother Elf observed him, her hologram's face expressionless and unreadable.

"Do you know what makes a Mega Man, a Mega Man yet?"

Harpuia looked up at the Mother Elf in a mix of surprise and shame. "I… I've given up." he admitted. "I couldn't find what made Mega Men special. Please Mother, tell me the secret."

"It's humility, my dear griffin. It's the ability and knowledge of knowing that they were wrong, and taking a step back to allow another to come forward. You see my dear griffin, He gave in to His humility enough that he didn't have any left to spare in his data for when Tekiya was constructed. However, by luck or influence, you four have this humility placed within you, thus making you superior to Tekiya in every way. Remember this humility as Neo Arcadia goes into war -don't give me that look, you know it's coming too- and when the opposing side needs aid. A fair fight is a fight you can lose, even if it costs the lives of hundreds."

"Understood." Harpuia agreed.

"And… Sage Harpuia…." the Mother Elf then said, her tone quiet and almost unsure.

"Yes Mother?"

"If there comes a time where Tekiya can not fulfill his duties and you placed in his stead- you will try to remain neutral with our enemies unless they strike first, correct?"

"I will see what I can do Mother." Harpuia agreed.

"Thank you my dear. It means much to me."

"Anything for you Mother." Harpuia promised with a small bow.

"Now," the Mother Elf then resigned, "You came to inform me of current events?"

Harpuia nodded and gave the details. When he finished his report, he remained with the Mother Elf for a while longer simply because he could. She did not stop him as she knew what was to come in the future, and a time of solace was always welcome before the storm.


	16. Leviathan: Grandmother

Reploids can not dream, and that's what she kept telling herself.

Not even a week old yet and Fairy Leviathan was experiencing visions while asleep. Humans called them dreams, but dreams have no place in a Reploid. Dreams required an imagination. Dreams required memories. Dreams required five senses- possibly six, considering the many different meanings of human's dreams. Leviathan had memories, however few they were, but everything else?

Last time she checked, just because a Reploid had human-like emotions and the ability to see in technicolor, didn't mean that everything was the same.

What do you do when you're a Reploid that's just been activated, and waiting for your designated weapon to be completed, so you could begin patrolling the city you were destined to protect?

Maybe… a walk around said city could suffice?

The city, she quickly found, was incredibly boring. Hardly any humans could be found on the streets -even in city square- instead using Mechaniloid servants to do errands for them. Upon finding herself getting worn easily, Fairy Leviathan took a seat at the square's fountain and dipped her fingers into the water. The cool water allowed the Guardian to take a deep, relaxed sigh as her fingers moved with the waves and created new ones.

"You seem a bit out of your element sweetie." the voice of an old woman said to Leviathan, shocking the Guardian out of her trance. Leviathan turned to look at the human woman and found that she didn't recognize her. Each of the Guardians had facial recognitions of the citizens residing in and out of Neo Arcadia- but this woman? No information whatsoever. She seemed old enough to be someone's grandmother (maybe even great-grandmother) but that wasn't enough to pin down her identity.

"Aren't you a pretty little girl." the old woman smiled. "Why don't you come with me to my home for a little bit, I could tell you so much about my granddaughter. You may find that you two have a lot in common."

"Oh no, please Grandmother," Leviathan smiled weakly, starting to get up before the less-than-likely ample crone could jack her. "I'm a Reploid designed to be in the water. I couldn't possibly…!"

"Nonsense my dear," the old woman smiled warmly back at her, taking the Reploid by the arm with a surprise amount of strength, "I'll make you a nice spot of rooibos tea. It's my granddaughter's favorite."

"Well… I..." Leviathan started to say, but soon found she was at a loss for words. Finally, the poor Guardian gave in. What was the worse that could happen? The old bat knew how to reprogram Reploids or something? "Yes Grandmother, I would like that."

The old woman smiled even brighter at this, and led the siren away.

Apparently, Grandmother was one of Neo Arcadia's elite.

"My granddaughter eloped with a rather handsome Reploid," Grandmother told Leviathan as she set about preparing the tea, "And this Reploid? You should know him quite well, I'd imagine!"

"I'm barely a week old Grandmother- I don't know many Reploids yet." Leviathan gently stated, not that Grandmother seemed to notice. In fact, Grandmother seemed to be completely ignoring Leviathan now, so with very little else to do, the Guardian walked to Grandmother's living room to sit on a couch in the living room.

There was absolutely no indication on whether Grandmother had family or not. No pictures, no letters, no… anything. The old woman owned several top of the line products, but by the dust that collected, it seemed that she didn't use any of it. Where all homes in Neo Arcadia like this (filled with all the current advances but no indication of family), or was it just typical to this very eccentric woman?

"There we are." Grandmother then announced when the tea was ready, quickly and rather skillfully bringing the tray out. The old woman placed the tray on the coffee table and generously poured Leviathan and herself a cup.

"Now then dear," Grandmother then said, taking her cup while Leviathan took hers, "A sweet Reploid like you must have something going on in her mind. I know you said that you were only a week old, but surely something must have come up for you to roam so far from where you belong."

Uneasily, Leviathan's finger etched the side of the tea cup, but she said nothing. She happened to look up as Grandmother gave a gentle blow at the top of her tea- the simple act reminded the Guardian of someone, fleetingly, which caused the Guardian to set the teacup back on the tray. What was _wrong_ with her today?

"I've been having… dreams, recently." the Guardian slowly started to admit. A part of her was appalled that she even said it out loud, but then again, who would believe her?

"Silly child, Reploids can't have dreams." Grandmother laughed, giving the Guardian a pat on the knee.

"I know but…" the siren mumbled, "But they're so real, and they seem to be pointing to something. I just can't figure it out..."

"Lucid dreams then? Well that is pretty serious." Grandmother then decided, putting her teacup back on the tray as well. "Tell me then, tell me about your dreams."

"I can't..." the siren then mumbled, her face flushing slightly. "I wouldn't know where to begin..."

Grandmother raised an eyebrow. "You know," she thoughtfully said to the Guardian, "Humans have dreams that they can not always decipher either. It is an interesting phenomenon, but research for those studies now go to Reploids who can do the same, instead of studying them in tandem. I am one of the few that believe that there is a definite connection between human and Reploids, but we tend to focus on one without the other. But our connections are closer than that, symbiotic even. Our world is growing blind to our needed connections, and soon, it will lead us without homes… and possibly even another war."

"You're very wise Grandmother." Leviathan said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"I've lived a long life sweetie," the crone told her with a hand wave. "In this long life, I even got to meet my great-grandchildren! Four of which, I'm very proud of. The other two? Well, we'll just have to see, don't we?"

"You sure have had a fulfilling life too, then." the siren smiled.

"Do not be fooled child," Grandmother sternly addressed, "Living for a long time might seem like fun; but then you watch your family die before your eyes. All of your friends gone with a blink. I have learned so much from living for so long, but what use is that knowledge when the ones I share it with leave me?"

Leviathan went silent, unsure of how to answer.

"I believe it was once said that, to die would be an awfully great adventure." Grandmother then rambled. "And I believe that it is completely true. Because, once you die, who will greet you at heaven's door? All the ones we've lost, and all the ones we've missed. That is what I look forward to some day- what about you dear siren?"

The Guardian looked up at Grandmother, more than a little shocked. Only one other person knew that she was called siren, and in the tone Grandmother had used, it almost seemed like… for a moment…

"Grandmother, what do you know of the Mother Elf?" Leviathan then inquired. The old woman retaliated with a rather devious smile.

"You mean you haven't figured it out already?" Grandmother asked in return. Admittedly, the siren was even more confused now. Seeing her confusion made the old woman laugh. "Are you telling me," Grandmother then chuckled, "That one of them deleted the recognition data of Rosalinda Sephira from you electronic brain?!"

Suddenly, everything made perfect sense.

"What do you know Grandmother?" Leviathan then questioned, new curiosity and excitement starting to bubble inside her. So this woman, as far as terminology went, was in actuality her great-grandmother after all...

"I know that there is a copy X up in Neo Arcadia's rule," the old woman started. "Because the original asked for my opinions on several things; including the chaining of the Mother Elf. She was a very dear woman for the both of us, but X knew that kinship is thicker than water, so he sought my wisdom for her fate. Such a sweet android; if only other Reploids could be like him. Like you, and the other Guardians. I'm so proud of you four that you'll never understand it."

"Grandmother..." the siren started to mumble quietly, "How did you know? What made you believe that I was the one you sought?"

"I already told you that X asked for my opinions, correct?" Grandmother then said to her, "Copy X tried to do the same. It didn't work out as well. But -and you may have been aware of this- when time came to choose your personal appearances, there was a contest throughout Neo Arcadia to decide. Copy X and I were the judges. A young girl who was orphaned at the Elf Wars designed your face, it looked so much like my dear Aero's that I knew that she would be the winner. I knew you before, I choose you. I could recognize any of you Guardians with or without armor."

"Grandmother," Leviathan then uttered, taking her hands in the old woman's. "Thank you."

"No my dear," Grandmother smiled, leaning forward to give the siren a small peck on the forehead, "Thank _you_."


	17. Harpuia and Leviathan: Ara Ara

The Rekku Army's training arena had always contained this odd, musty smell to it, despite the grunts inside only ever being Reploid. The lighting had always been obnoxiously dim too, with some dark green ambiance light seeping through the tiny windows. It almost seemed to be an odd nest, placed inside a tree trunk, leaving Sage Harpuia to personally hate the setup with a passion. He could never bother to place a petition against the arrangements, however, unless nothing of value was happening to Neo Arcadia. Today, something of value was planned, so whining about his training arena was the least of concerns on his mind.

"Today I have asked Fairy Leviathan to join us in our training." Harpuia announced to his understudies. At the mention of her name, Leviathan had stepped out onto the training room floor. "She will be facing me in one-on-one combat; your duty is to take note of any tactical advantages any one of us could display toward our opponent. Remember these advantages when we spar as a group later, and look for openings in your opponent while avoiding their attacks."

Harpuia then gave his attention to Leviathan, who had already taken her stance on the training ground. He got into his ready stance before taking a casual look to his men.

"Aztec Falcon," the griffin then ordered, "Referee this match. We'll begin on your mark."

"It would be an honor, sir." Aztec Falcon agreed with a small bow. The Reploid gave the Guardians a bit more time to adjust and plan their strategies before declaring, "Fight!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Leviathan and Harpuia began a fight to the finish. Usually, when the Four Guardians fought one-on-one, there would have been playful banter and traditional sibling bickering; but there was an audience today, and Harpuia did not intend on looking bad in front of his men. Despite them both being rather formidable combatants in this state, Leviathan was the first to yield. Not that he was going to brag about it anytime soon, but he knew that she would have given up first due to her need to be in the water. He also wasn't going to admit that, if he hadn't had this tactical advantage over her, she likely would have won that match.

"Are you alright?" Harpuia offered as he helped her back up.

"I just need some water." the siren told him, holding back a rasp. "But already knew that; didn't you?"

The griffin didn't affirm this directly, instead he summoned an Aqua Man unit to rehydrate the siren. As water reentered her systems, Leviathan forgot who was in the room and let out a contented sigh- she used Harpuia as a method of stabilizing herself while the sweet refreshment nearly made her lose her balance.

"Of course we would see a girl get wet when a real warrior wins a challenge!" one of Harpuia's understudies spoke up with an amused snort.

Immediately, Leviathan's head snapped up to give a rather horrifying glare at the understudies. "Who said that?!" she demanded. "Who?!"

"Siren..." Harpuia quickly tried to reason in her ear, "You're still recovering from..."

"Shut it!" Leviathan immediately snapped at him. "One of your men talked out of term, _Sage Harpuia_ , and I want to know who it was!"

There was a small shuffled among Harpuia's men. It didn't take long before one of them spoke up, making himself known to the room;

"It was I, my sweet."

In seeing who it was, Harpuia let out a small groan. "Herculious Anchus..." he then said- either as an introduction or as part of his dismay. Leviathan greeted Herculious with a dark glare, calling away the Aqua Man unit with an absent wave of her hand.

"Herculious Anchus." Leviathan carefully repeated, letting the name roll of her tongue as if she were trying to remember it. "You've been with Harpuia's men for… three years now? Is that correct?"

"Of course." Herculious agreed with a boastful pump of his chest. "I was one of the best among the original candidates Sage Harpuia set aside from Sector 7. One of the most powerful, strongest, honorable, most experienced warrior in the sector- if I do say so myself."

"That's not how I remember it going..." Herculious's brother, Kuwagust Anchus, grumbled under his breath just loud enough for the two Guardians to hear. Harpuia had to agree to this, distinctly remembering three female candidates from Sector 7; one of which almost took the spot Herculious laid claim to now. He didn't need to tell Leviathan this, as she had already knew Herculious wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Are you saying that women can be good fighters because they are… dishonorable? Weak? Inexperienced?" questioned the siren with a tilt of her head.

"Well, Fairy Leviathan," Herculious started, saying the siren's name is such a way that it send an unnerved crawl down her back, "Although I am sure that you are a… _capable_ fighter, due to be created from Master X himself, you must also understand that trying to be seductive in battle is highly distracting. It is an unfair advantage that you ladies have, and you employ it no matter who you are seeing."

Leviathan recoiled at the implied suggestion, finding it highly disgusting. "You think I was trying to seduce my own brother?" she questioned in displeasure.

"Not directly, I'm sure, my lady. But it is so hard to do as the commander requests us when you make it quite apparent that you don't care about fighting, and instead make due with your female charms to win the battle. The commander had you in a tight spot, it's no wonder you yielded first- women like yourself can't beat the endurance we warriors have. Nor do we rely on dirty tactics, such as flaunting our shapely forms in front of learning apprentices..."

"Oh…?" Leviathan entertained. The tone in her voice gave Harpuia the feeling that she knew that she would have won that fight, had it not been for her hydration module. Meanwhile, some of the understudies could agree that Leviathan might have been trying to 'flaunt' her female body, but they wouldn't have said it made her any less of a fighter. Being the only female of the Four Guardians, it was part of who she was and how she learned to fight: a weapon is a weapon, no matter what it is or how you use it. A good handful of the understudies would have agreed that, whatever her tactics had been, Harpuia was the one that had been caught in a tight spot during the spar.

"Go back to clean up your little ocean, my darling mermaid." Herculious then went on (making Harpuia seriously wish that the dumb Reploid would just shut up already.), "Us men can spar just well without your dainty water dances distracting us from a perfect training session!"

At this, Herculious let out a rather hearty chuckle as if he had told the best joke in the world. No one but him laughed at his statement. Instead, Leviathan simply looked at him; judging, slowly measuring him up and deciding on what direction to take. If no one had thought the situation was going to be dealt with seriously, one look at Harpuia's face would have made them understand that something ugly was about to go down. He knew his sister was getting ready to strike. He knew that whatever punishment she gave him was going to be well deserved too. As much as the griffin was fearing for his sister's better judgment, he wasn't about to stop her from delivering a rather powerful lesson on assuming outdated gender roles on your superiors either.

With Herculious still chuckling at himself, Leviathan started to move toward him- purposely sashaying her hips as she walked over. Coming to understand his sister's attack method, Harpuia instinctively took a step back- the understudies that had been studying his movements since the ordeal started did the same. They had no idea what to expect from Leviathan, but they all agreed that Herculious's punishment was going to be ugly in one form or another.

Leviathan moved quite close to Herculious- he nearly jumped when she realized she was barely a hair away from him. Behind her, Leviathan summoned her javelin and calmly withdrew it with a rather innocent bat of her eyelashes.

"Ara ara..." Leviathan sweetly crooned to Herculious, just barely grazing her javelin against his blades, "You think you're so smart because you're made of hot air?"

Herculious gave a smug affirmation, to which Leviathan then smiled at. But her smile then hardened into a darker look. Her grip tightened on her javelin before making a hard swing at his legs- a wave of ice forming from the javelin's tip, creating a powerful whip that all but crippled Herculious on the spot by being in point-blank range. Herculious went down in indescribable pain as Leviathan looked over him without any emotion.

"Never underestimate your opponent." Harpuia then informed the other understudies, knowing full well that Leviathan had offered a fair learning moment. "Leviathan _could_ have killed you, Herculious. Consider yourself lucky that you're still functioning."

"Functioning?!" Herculious squeaked from the floor. Leviathan looked down at the Reploid with disgust.

"If you are one of Neo Arcadia's best," the siren then declared, "Then we are all doomed."

She then gave him a rather sharp kick in the ribs (an act that made everyone in the room flinch), demanding at Herculious in doing so, "Get up."

Whimpering now, just slightly, the Reploid did as he was told. With him standing up, Leviathan was able to cast a rather ugly glare at him. Herculious refused to look at her.

"For every strong man, there's an even stronger woman that let him win." Leviathan told him, but held a tone loud enough for the entire training room to hear. "Male egos; they're just so... fragile, you know? Just look at you; you had the opportunity to strike and yet you not only let a girl nearly cripple you, but also humiliate you in front of your pathetic little friends. Now I'm sure you feel ashamed, embarrassed, you might even think that this whole ordeal isn't fair. But will you learn from this? Will you understand that an enemy is an enemy, no matter their gender or background? Only time will tell I'm afraid, and you better find out pretty fucking fast."

Making her statement known, Leviathan started to walk out of the training room knowing that her time with them was over. Before leaving proper, she walked over to Harpuia and gave him a rather heated scowl.

"Teach your army some manners, Harpuia." Leviathan hissed at her brother darkly. "You should consider yourself lucky that we were blessed with Master X's patience."

Immediately, Harpuia's expression softened and he gave a bow.

"Yes ma'am." he promised. "I assure you that this will never happen again."

"For the sake of Master X, I sure hope not." she spat before flashing Herculious and Harpuia's other understudies a dark look before making her leave. They all flinched at her gaze (Herculious in particular nearly ready to run off), an act that satisfied the siren tremendously.

Harpuia let out a disheartened sigh as he watched his sister fume off. He'd have to make this up to her somehow in the future, but for now he still had grunts to train.

"Everyone, get your sparring partner- we'll begin our one-on-ones now." the griffin then commanded. "Except for you, Herculious. I'd like to take you on personally."


End file.
